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Judge Lynch's Court 
In America 



THE NUMBER OF NEGRO CONVICTS IN 

PRISON IN AMERICA, AND OTHER 

INJUSTICE DONE TO THE 

NEGRO IN AMERICA 




By REV. ELIJAH CLARENCE BRANCH, 
HOUSTON, TEXAS 



Judge Lynch's Court 



In A 



merica 



THE NUMBER OF NEGRO CONVICTS IN 

PRISON IN AMERICA, AND OTHER 

INJUSTICE DONE TO THE 

NEGRO IN AMERICA 



By REV. ELIJAH CLARENCE BRANCH. 

I 

HOUSTON, TEXAS 



IJDGE LYNCH'S IN AMERiC 

pmriP 60 CENTS 

HELP ME fO PUT OUT 40,000 COPIES 

REV. ELIJAH C BRANCH, Autiior 

HOUSTON, TEXAS 



By tracer er 
The White House. 



.£5 




Rev. ELIJAH CLARENCE BRANCH 

AUTHOR 

Houston, Texas 



VI 



JUDGE LYNCH'S COURT 
IN AMERICA 



CHAPTER I. 



The national condition that confronts us as a race is 
alarming, and I have become so impressed until I am com- 
pelled to write a story of it, record the facts and statistics 
of the same for a period of six months, especially of Judge 
Lynch's court, on the Negro in the United States, I feel it 
a Godsent work that devolves upon me. However, as it is 
known that I am not a college man, and my ability may be 
questioned as to whether I can merit the attention of the 
learned men of America, both white and black, I only wish 
and demand a fair chance to prove that I am a man of 
thought, if not of letters. The busy world cares nothing about 
a man's college diploma, but crowns a man truly great for 
what he can do. A simpleton may be armed with a college 
diploma with many degrees of honor and yet he may not 
be able to do anything. Just to be smart is not enough for 
this busy world. A man must do something. He must let 
the nation know he is in it by something put forth. The first 
thing I wish to discuss :_The progress of our race financially 
for these fifty years of freedom is phenomenal and unparal- 
leled in the annals of time. 

Consisting of the following: Farm lands, ranches, fine 
blooded stock, grist mills, cotton gins, drug stores, dry goods 
stores, undertaking establishments, State banks, grocery 
stores, real estate concerns and high institutions of learning. 
All of which are owned and operated by Negroes. This 
progress within itself under unfavorable conditions has chal- 
lenged the attention of the civilized world. The educational 
progress has been the same, in a large degree. But however, 
under the most favorable educational conditions in America 
for our race, we have too many who have failed to grasp 
the opportunity. .There are too many young Negroes under 
twenty years old, who cannot read and write. Too many lit- 
tle boys and girls in the villages, towns and cities, who do 
not attend the public schools, ages ranging from eight to six- 
teen, and it goes without saying they do not attend Sunday 
school or church. Ignorance gets a strong hold on them. 



It is this class that becomes the property of Judge Lynch's 
Court and the property of the State prison by a legal trial. 
It is this class of Negroes that ignorant, malignant, self-con- 
stituted mob violence court always gets, consisting of uncivil- 
ized white men, who are uneducated, who have a disregard 
for law, and no regard for human life. The ignorant white 
man will join a mob in the absence of any facts or evidence 
of the guilt of the accused. Since ignorance is dangerous, 
let the race "get busy" in trying to encourage education of 
the, masses. In the city of Houston, Texas, there are night 
schools conducted free for young and old. It will take edu- 
cation and Christianity to bring about a change of conditions 
affecting crime among our race. The school room and pulpit 
are the hope of civilization of the race. I mean school rooms 
with strong educated moral teachers in them. I mean pulpits 
with converted men in them, not educated men, not a home 
destroyer, nor virtue miner, but a clean Christian man of 
high standard, destined to lift up the race to higher and 
nobler ideals in life. 

THE TEACHER. 

I have little faith in a teacher who has an opportunity for 
two or three years to impress a boy or girl for good and fails 
to do so, unless the boy or girl is exceptionally bad and 
doomed to degradation. The teacher ought to be able to in- 
spire his pupils, pointing them to higher aims in life, thus 
setting their very souls on fire of inspiration/ When once a 
boy gets it into his head that he wants to be somebody he is 
pretty well safe, and there is little danger of him ever be- 
coming among the debased class. 

<- The fireside training in our Christian homes is the place 
where the right conduct of our boys and girls must be well 
laid. There is no need of so many boys and girls going to 
ruin. In a large degree the parents are to blame, on account 
of negligence on their part. As late as 8 p. m. some parents 
can't tell you where their children are from eight to twpWe 
years old. You might ask: Where are your children? Oh, 
they are out on the streets. You can just count on about 95 
per cent of all such children being among the number des- 
tined to reach the lowest hellhole or the State prison. The 
good families who are trying all they can to raise o-ood chil- 
dren are greatly handicapped in this way : They take all the 
pains with their children to properly raise them, and at 
school the well-raised children come in contact with the 
children whose parents have turned them loose to the world. 
They grow up without home training. These uncultured 
children are naturally to a decent set of children what a 



mad dog would be to a fine set of dogs, which have no dis- 
ease. Then you can readily see what effect these uncultured 
children will have on society. To check mob violence we 
must raise better children. To thoroughly accomplish this 
sole remedy we must have better mothers and fathers. This 
brings to our mind the 3d chapter of St. John, Nicodemus' 
question to Jesus. Some might ask: How can we make 
them better mothers and fathers after they become old ? The 
surest way is to raise them. But for immediate results 
there must be a general crusade on the part of the public to 
organize the mothers into a union ; to take under considera- 
tion the best method how to successfully rescue the boys 
and girls of our race who are on the very eve of degrada- 
tion. Much good could be realized by the organizing of a 
mothers' union or club. The preachers are organized for the 
best method. The teachers are organized for the purpose 
of discussing the best method in teaching and management. 
The great railroads qf the country are organized to discuss 
the best methods of handling the great amount of traffic 
and the best system of so doing. The laboring men are or- 
ganizing for the best way or method of getting higher wages, 
so they say. I am in sympathy with the laboring man. I 
believe he has a right to organize to better enable him to 
take care of himself and family. So long as he obeys the law 
and lives up to the golden rule, I believe he has a right to 
strike, but not to dictate, unless he owns some stock in the 
concern which caused the strike. However, there are but 
few union men among the Negroes, and in a large degree 
they conduct this affair and grievance in a legitimate way 
and satisfactorily to all concerned. I must let it be known 
now that I have no prejudice against the white man. Preju- 
dice without a real cause is only due to ignorance and un- 
cultured malignant spirit. I rather like the unprejudiced 
people who are willing to give justice to my race. However, 
there are very few poor white men free from race pre- 
judice, possibly due to the fireside training. In this connec- 
tion, we will make special mention of one, Hon. C. W. Rob- 
inson, District Judge of Harris County, Houston, Texas, who 
said some time ago that "A man's color had nothing to 
with him giving justice, if a white man was being tried for 
killing a Negro." This is true of this good man. I don't 
know whether or not he is a Christian, but I do believe this 
is God's hand working in him. 

The Southern Pacific Railroad Company has for its presi- 
dent another good man who lives now in New York. He is 
not unfriendly to any class of law-abiding people. It must 
be said that he is the Negro's best friend. God intended 



6 

him to be a great man in creation. I believe He saw him 
coming up from the South and his motto being, "Justice to 
the strong and weak alike," and he had the reins in his 
hands that operated, governed and controlled millions of 
dollars, and his power from ocean to ocean. The Negro can 
depend upon the better classes of whites as their friends. It 
is unfair to say we have no friends among the white people. 
It is unfair also for the white people to class all the Negroes 
alike. I have been in towns in this State (Texas) where a 
colored man could not visit certain houses of our race after 
night unless he did so at his own peril, and did not think 
all the white men were getting on our side of the fence, be- 
cause these white men would not allow Negroes to call on 
their own colored girls. It will be better for all concerned 
when the country white boy is better educated. The edu- 
cated white man has less use for his gun than the ignorant 
white man. This is, no doubt, the cause of the police killing 
so many Negroes. The position from a financial viewpoint 
is not very inviting, and the educated white man wants 
something better ; therefore, the cities are compelled to take 
mostly uneducated men as policemen. There are some who 
learn by practicing on the Negro. 

However, we look for better conditions here in the City 
of Houston. There is already a great improvement and at 
this writing there is a greater improvement in sight. I have 
had occasion to personate only one white man, and he is 
Judge C. W. Robinson, whom I would like to see on the Su- 
preme bench. He never allows a white man who kills a Negro 
in cold blood to be set free if it is in his power to prevent it. 

Honorable R. S. Lovett, president of the Southern Pacific 
Railroad Company, stood by the Negro switchmen of the 
Houston & Texas Central yards some years ago when a very 
able white Methodist preacher went all the way from Hous- 
ton to New York to persuade him (Mr. Lovett) to discharge 
all these Negro switchmen and place white men in their po- 
sitions. Mr. Lovett consulted the car damage records in the 
United States and discovered that the Houston & Texas Cen- 
tral had less drawheads broken than any other road in Amer- 
ica. And Mr. Lovett told this good minister who used the 
high church office to aid him in attempting to take from 
these poor Negroes their bread and butter, "The Negroes are 
eligible and the Southern Pacific will make no changes." Pos- 
sibly he didn't think the golden rule applied to the Negro. 
The Negro's only salvation is to trust God. He created us, 
and will protect us against all hurt, harm or danger. The 
Negro as a whole has no special race prejudice against the 
white man, without some special cause. Notwithstanding, 



he is not treated right, in rural districts. White men run 
over some of our best girls and the Negroes are powerless 
to help themselves. The Negro girl stands alone in the 
world. The Federal Government has thrown around the 
white girl its strong arms. She is protected by the white 
slave law. There is no black or colored slave law. She has 
no legal protection against white men. The object of this lit- 
tle book is to plead for better homes and pure homes. I have 
shown that the hope of our race depends upon the fireside 
training, school rooms and pulpits. We need better teachers 
and preachers in some sections of this country. We need 
teachers that will teach morality and live it. Any teacher who 
has a wife and flirts with women is unfit to teach. The same 
rule applies to the preacher; yes, more so, he promised to 
live Christlike. And any church supporting an immoral, 
ignorant preacher is equally guilty, knowing it, and possibly 
not in heavenly fellowship. If a preacher is ignorant, he 
must be clean for my respect. But if he is both ignorant 
and immoral, too, I have nothing but contempt for him. 
He can not do the race any good. He can not instruct the 
public. The world has no confidence in him. 

Rev. Dr. E. W. D. Isaacs, once, when speaking about the 
little preachers, said that "The longer the coats the less 
they know." What we need is able preachers, teachers and 
leaders to help raise the standard of citizenship. We only 
have one Dr. Booker T. Washington. He is a brave leader, 
a fact that all must confess. The greatest preacher in the 
world, in the person of Dr. C. T. Walker, said his name was 
written upon future time. Dr. J. W. E. Bowen and Dr. M. 
C. B. Mason are also among the race's shining lights. 

There is indeed a problem to be solved by the race leaders, 
"How to save the boys and girls of our race." The good 
families are handicapped on account of various environ- 
ments that confront the youth. The opera and moving pic- 
ture shows are no longer an intellectual benefit. They are 
indeed very harmful to both church and society. The red 
light song is sung on the stage of today ; it is worded "Every- 
body's Doing It." It contradicts the virtuous life of our best 
girls, and causes many weak girls to accept it for the truth, 
the vulgar poet's song, while many would accept it for an 
excuse only to do bad. Decent homes must not allow this 
dangerous song in them if they wish to raise any good girls. 
The pulpit must take a stand against it. Evil environments 
are catching and our young girls will be the greatest suffer- 
ers. Are the mothers trying to raise wives for the young 
men of tomorrow? If so, without great preparation, what 



8 

have they to offer the cultured young man of tomorrow? The 
same thing holds good of the young man. 

There must be an improvement in our society or else we 
cannot suppress crime nor the ill-fame house. 

If we have law-abiding citizens, possibly there will be no 
lynching ; however, all victims are not guilty of rape nor at- 
tempt to rape. Some have been lynched for trying to pro- 
tect themselves in a fight. We are created in God's own 
image; He will make all things right in due time. Let the 
young Negro stay out of bad company. Ofttimes bad com- 
pany gets an innocent person in trouble. 

The better class of white people must stop the lynch law. 
They may shoot the Negro down at will ; they may burn him 
at the stake for the least provocation, but there is certainly 
to follow the Negro's blood some big railroad wreck, a steam- 
ship disaster, or the burning of some big hotel, causing the 
loss of many lives. It may be a serious question to accept 
as a fact, but as a rule, these disasters do not catch this poor 
class that constitutes mob violence very often. But God 
would have them know that "You are your brother's keeper." 
For the benefit of the law have they ever tried to stop mob 
violence? Have they ever spent or offered to spend any part 
of those millions to protect the Negro? The strong must 
protect the weak. 

We are weak because we are few in number, slavery only 
fifty years behind us. Notwithstanding, in many backwood 
places slavery still exists in the South. Ignorant Negroes 
are caught, locked in jail and worked free without a chance 
to get away. But first and last the United States will catch 
them all for the slave system act. God is in heaven ; we must 
tell Him all about our troubles. 



CHAPTER II. 

POLICE IMPROVEMENT. 

In the first chapter I had occasion to say that the police 
system would improve. I note with appreciation the won- 
derful improvement in Denver, Colo., in the police system. 

(From the Houston Press.) 
Denver, Oct. 28. — Take away the policeman's club. 
Prevent him from using a revolver unless his own life is 
in peril. 

Keep fat men off the police force. 

Apply plain, Christian teachings to police problems. 



9 

These constiute the platform of George Creel, newspaper 
writer, turned police commissioner of Denver, who has in- 
stituted a campaign to prove his contention that clubs and re- 
volvers are not necessary to the enforcement of the law. 

CLUBS BANISHED. 

The first step in the commissioner's campaign has been the 
enforcement of an order abolishing the carrying of clubs 
by policemen. His second is contained in the following 
order: 

"Any officer who beats or otherwise maltreats a prisoner 
must be prepared to show justification of absolute self-de- 
fense under the penalty of discharge and future prosecution 
under the State law. 

"Any officer who discharges a revolver at one whose 
crime is not known or any case where the known crime is 
less than a serious felony or in the event his own life is not 
in peril, will be dismissed from the force." 

TWO DISMISSALS. 

To back up these orders, Creel has accomplished the sum- 
mary dismissal of Sergeant Dooley and Patrolman Joessel 
who recently shot and wounded an alleged "masher" named 
Fike. The latter shot Fike as he was running away in 
fright and the former beat the man as he lay prostrate on 
the ground. 

"I am taking away clubs because they invite brutality and 
are of no real use," said Creel today. "In case of assault, 
the officer does not rely on his club but upon his revolver. 
I have always believed also that the police should not carry 
revolvers, but I am loathe to eliminate them until we get 
an effective law against gun selling and gun-toting. 

"As it is now, every pawnshop and hardware store finds 
profit in the sale of revolvers, dirks and blackjacks, and be- 
cause of this profit, these men killed a bill in the last Colo- 
rado legislature that would have done away with the evil 
and lifted from the city the menace of frontier lawlessness. 

MEANS IT. 

"I mean to stop this thing of police brutality and reck- 
less shooting if I have to discharge every man on the force. 
I shall proceed to a reorganization of the Denver force that 
will result in the dismissal of the brutal, the stupid, the 
crooked and the inefficient. 

"The reason so many fugitives are fired at is because the 
officers are too fat to give chase. The reason so many offi- 



10 

cers beat prisoners generally is because they were appointed 
for political reasons and have developed the autocratic sense. 
The reason they protect gamblers and law breakers gener- 
ally is because they are accustomed to a frank partnership 
with vice and crime." 

To take the gun away from the police is a good thing. I 
say this from personal experience. About twelve years ago, 
a big policeman "snapped a forty-five" in my face twice be- 
cause I did not get to my office in time to get the ice up as 
soon as the ice man put the ice out for me. The gun did not 
go off and I protected myself as best I could. This man is 
still on the force in Houston, Texas, at this writing. 

In Houston we have not more than three policemen of the 
Negro race on the force and I, personally, make no kick. Too 
often it makes a good man a bad man, a church man a black- 
hearted sinner and murderer, a moral sinner an immoral 
grafter and thief. However, there are some exceptions to 
this rule. Some months ago, our law-abiding citizens feared 
the police in getting over the city at night more than they 
feared the highwayman, because the highwayman has no 
protection from the city and State; a policeman trying to 
hold up a citizen may be killed, and the citizen who kills 
him must be convicted for having killed an officer. I see 
no reason why the standard of the policemen can not be 
raised. The city of New York has undergone a police dis- 
grace which belongs to history. 

If all is true which has been said about the chief of police 
the City of Houston has a good man now. I have said that 
I do not care much about Negro police. I do not see any 
good they can do. We need more leaders and better leaders. 
They must come from the school room and from the pulpit. 

Jack Johnson is a member of our race, but what good 
can he do our cause, being a sporting character, without 
culture or race pride? 

I have never thought that any amount of progress in 
civilization depended upon Jack Johnson's type of charac- 
ter. In the same sense, I do not see how his misconduct 
should affect our race as a whole. The race cannot point to 
him with any degree of pride. I shall present some articles 
from the Houston Press and shall for the present dismiss 
his case without further comment. 

(From The Houston Press, Oct. 28.) 

Chicago, Oct. 28. — "The black man who becomes wealthy 

or influential is now doing what he can to retaliate against 

the conditions of servitude in which he was previously held." 

This statement was made today by Mrs. Alice Phillips 



Aldrich, head of the Chicago Law and Order League, who 
has been interested in the investigation of the case of Jack 
Johnson, the Negro pugilist, who is charged with abducting 
pretty Lucile Cameron, the Minneapolis white girl. 

Mrs. Aldrich predicted that the free intermingling of the 
black and white race would result early in the degradation 
of both races and that it will never result in elevating the 
Negro race. 

"The problem of intermarriage and intermingling of black 
and white persons is a very serious one," said Mrs. Aldrich. 
"The fad for Negro men to have white wives and sweet- 
hearts is growing in every large city north of the Ohio. As- 
sociation of Negroes with white girls is thriving under po- 
lice protection in Chicago and several other large cities. In 
the Chicago tenderloin there were — until recently closed — 
many resorts housing white girls that catered to Negro men. 

"Race purity in this country is nowhere maintained except 
in the South. Race barriers are first broken down in the 
public schools where the races and the sexes mingle indis- 
criminately in the classroom and in the schoolyard. 

"From that period in her life, a white girl is in danger 
from Negro men, the danger being increased by the degree 
of her poverty. If the girl is poor and works as a domestic 
in homes of wealthy persons, hotels or other places, she is 
forced to mingle on terms of social equality in a majority 
of cases with Negro butlers, porters, chauffeurs, coachmen 
or other male Negro help. 

"Sex intermingling is the most natural outcome of such 
a situation. Any employer who hires a white girl to share 
a common condition with a black man, as a fellow employe, 
contributes to this peril to our race purity. The elevation 
in many instances of Negroes to positions as head waiters, 
foremen, assistants to managers, and even in some cases 
managers, suddenly reverses the race relation and subordin- 
ates the white woman, servant to the black man, master. 

"In the East, almost without exception, the only girls to 
fall into the hands of Negroes are from poor families. The 
Eastern Negro is not as wealthy as his Western brother, and 
he cannot attract girls from the better homes with gifts of 
diamonds and other costly presents. But there are ^hun- 
dreds of wealthy Negroes in the West who can and do." 

(From The Houston Press, Oct. 29, 1912.) 
New York, Oct. 29. — "If the suicide of my daughter might 
be taken as a warning to other white girls ; if I thought it 
might save someone else from a similar fate, my own crush- 



12 

ing burden of sorrow would be easier to bear, and I would 
feel that her death had not been in vain." 

Mrs. David Terry, widowed mother of Etta Duryea John- 
son, the white wife of Jack Johnson, who shot herself in 
Chicago September 12, made this statement today, believ- 
ing it to be her Christian duty, she said, to help drive the 
black pugilist from the city and country. Mrs. Terry was 
seen in her home in Brooklyn, where she lives, broken in 
health and under the constant care of a physician. 

The reporter had carried to Mrs. Terry the story of the 
Chicago grand jury's investigation into Johnson's alleged 
kidnaping of Lucile Cameron; of the girl's mother's fight 
for her daughter, and had finished by asking : 

"Mrs. Terry, what, in your opinion, should be done with 
the husband of your dead daughter?" 

a mother's vision. 

"It would be wrong for me to tell you what ought to be 
done," she replied, her voice hardening. "It is not for me 
to judge. God will do that, but every night a prayer goes 
up from my pillow asking God to send this man the punish- 
ment he deserves. Two weeks ago I had a vision of Jack 
Johnson's end. I believe that vision was God's promise of 
its fulfillment. 

"In a vision as plain as day I saw a boat on a beautiful 
stream. In that boat was my daughter glorified in white, 
talking to my dead husband. Suddenly out of the water rose 
a giant glistening black. It was Jack Johnson. With both 
hands he grabbed for the boat as if he would crush it, but 
he missed ; my daughter rowed away and disappeared with 
a ripple of happy laughter on her lips. Then the water 
turned as black as ink and swallowed the black man up." 

The Negro must stay on his side of the fence, from a so- 
cial standpoint. And he must demand the white man to do 
the same with the same determination in which the white 
man demands him. And that should be death. This is the 
golden rule. The Negro must be proud of his own race. 
His own women must be the ideal women in the world for 
him. 

No doubt there is a superior race. Then the Negro race, 
no doubt, is classed as one of the inferior races. The white 
man has superior circumstances, and he is confronted with 
superior conditions. This, however, will not hold good col- 
lectively, but individually. /A white man as member of the 
superior race is not superior to the Negro because he is 
white ; if at all it must be on account of culture, morals and 
finance surpassing that of the Negro. This is a fact that 



13 

must be inculcated. For instance, a Negro convict is as 
good as a white convict. If the crime for which they were 
convicted is the same they are equal. The cultured and 
financial white man who stands for all of the principles that 
it takes to constitute a true gentleman, is of himself a 
superior man from a standpoint of superiority. 

If a man thinks his own race is not good enough for 
him, it is very natural he would desire to leave it and join 
another. It is not manly to desire to go where you are not 
welcome. The white man has been guilty and so has the 
Negro. \ 

UNDESIRABLE CITIZENSHIP. 

If a white man will sell his vote, the Negro that sells his 
vote is just as good a citizen as the white man, and just as 
honest, regardless of the difference in the purchase price. 
Both can be bought for a price, what is the difference? A 
dollar changed their principles, a dollar changed their man- 
hood. A dollar changed their loyalty to the country. What 
is the difference between the white man who steals a na- 
tional bank and a Negro who steals a cow? Just here I will 
dismiss this subject. 

My appeal to the mothers and fathers is to raise better 
sons and daughters ; this is the object of this little book. The 
school room and pulpit are called upon to auxiliate in this 
great move. Good sons and daughters are the hope of our 
race. This is the material that must constitute our model 
citizenship. Our way now seems dark and cloudy, but way 
down the line of future time God Himself has fixed a change 
of conditions affecting the welfare of the Negro. No power 
on earth at the proper time can offset the Negro's elevation. 
It is a Bible truth, God programmed in creation, "And Ethi- 
opia shall stretch forth her hand." 

A QUALIFIED VOTER. 

If an ignorant white man is not able at all times to use 
his judgment in voting, and if he is not a failure, why then 
should any prejudiced mind say that the enfranchisement of 
the Negro was a failure? There are plenty of white men 
who are not able to read one section of the National Consti- 
tution. This class consists mostly of backwoodsmen. Why 
should an ignorant white man have any more political rights 
than an ignorant Negro? 

These are conditions it would be well for our best white 
citizens to look into. 

Col. E. T. Taliaferro indorses Mr. Root's speech. 



14 
(From The Houston Post, Feb. 15, 1903.) 

MR. ROOT'S SPEECH — INTERPRETED BY NEW YORKERS AS UN- 
FAVORABLE TO NEGRO VOTING. 

New York Commercial. 

Widespread interest was created by Secretary Root's 
speech at the Union League club, in which he pronounced Ne- 
gro suffrage a failure. 

Colonel Edwin T. Taliaferro, who had just returned from 
a trip through Virginia, said it was the greatest mistake in 
the history of this country to give the blacks the right of 
suffrage. "I agree most heartily with Secretary Root," Col- 
onel Talliaferro said, "when he says that the Negro suffrage 
plan has been a failure. They have done nothing to better 
themselves. It was a great mistake ever to give them the 
right to vote or to hold office, and I think the sentiment of 
the entire South and a great part of the North is with me 
when I say it. 

"They ought never to have been put on a level with the 
white man. I would unhesitatingly support any legislation 
to disfranchise the blacks, and I think they would be better 
off in that condition. If that were done, this would be one 
united country there would be no sectional feeling, no North, 
no South, but just one government — a white man's govern- 
ment. Mind, I would entirely protect the legal rights of the 
black — his property rights." 

Former United States Senator William Lindsay said: 
"Federal office holding has not elevated or benefited the 
Negro race. Secretary Root is right in what he said last 
night. The Southerners are not to blame for the situation. 
The influences that gave to Negroes the right of suffrage 
and failed in the attempt to elevate them are charged with 
the responsibility of trying any new experiment of what- 
ever character. The States of the South can not inaugu- 
rate a new policy unless permitted to do so by the country at 
large. The Negro should be removed from political influ- 
ences." 

Colonel John C. Calhoun said : "I do not agree with Presi- 
dent Roosevelt's expressed opinion in reference to the Negro 
race. The Negro has made remarkable strides in civiliza- 
tion, and in the South is becoming a property owner, but his 
education should be given him, and aside from that he should 
be let alone. If he is let alone and not used as political capi- 
tal it will come nearer solving the question of the Negro's 
future than anything else." 

John R. Abney of No. 71 Broadway, former president of 
the Southern Society, said : "The real situation of the Ne- 



15 

groes living in the South does not seem to be generally under- 
stood. The republican party claims to have set them free 
and expects their votes. The great mass of the Negroes are 
engaged in agriculture; and the tariff law, which has been 
made by the republican party, militates against their agri- 
cultural interest and helps to keep them poor. 

"They are grateful to the republican party for their free- 
dom; and yet they know that their financial interest is in- 
jured just as is that of the white man engaged in the same 
pursuit. If they take an active part in politics and vote for 
the republican party, that places them in a false position 
with the whites with whom they live. If they do not vote 
the republican ticket, the few Negro leaders who want office 
charge them with ingratitude. 

"So they are in a dilemma which challenges sympathy 
from all fair-minded and thinking men. If left alone they 
would prefer not to vote. The republican party ought to 
leave them alone and get along without their votes." 

THE NEGRO BALANCE OF POWER. 

(From The Houston Chronicle, Jan. 1, 1903.) 

Washington, Jan. 1. — A number of republican newspa- 
pers are distributing the assertion of some democratic writ- 
ers for the press that the Negro vote holds the balance of 
power in the country, and as it is always cast for the re- 
publican ticket, generally elects that ticket. 

While it is true that in 1896 and 1900, by reason of the 
radical division in democratic ranks, McKinley would have 
been elected without the Negro vote, still the facts are that 
the Negro vote gives the republicans the greatest advantage 
over the democrats, and in a clean, square way, all else be- 
ing equal, especially in issue and unity, the vote of the Negro 
for the republican ticket swings the pendulum to the repub- 
lican side. 

In the following table are included all the republican States 
of the North having any considerable Negro. population, and 
also certain border States now held by the republicans, or 
which are considered something doubtful, in which there is 
a heavy Negro vote. 

Indian territory and Oklahoma are set down because there 
is some probability that they will be admitted as States. The 
total Negro population of each State, by the census of 1900, 
is stated, and all colored males 21 years of age and over, or 
voters, as shown by the same census. 



16 
HIS VOTING STRENGTH. 

None but persons of Negro descent are included. 

Negro Popu- Negro vote 

States— lation 1900. 1900. 

Massachusetts 31,974 10,456 

Rhode Island 9,092 2,765 

Connecticut 15,226 4,576 

New York 99,232 31,425 

New Jersey 69,844 21,474 

Pennsylvania 156,845 51,668 

Delaware 30,697 8,374 

Maryland 235,064 60,406 

Ohio 96,901 31,235 

Indiana 57,050 18,186 

Illinois 85,078 29,762 

Michigan 15,816 5,193 

Iowa 12,693 4,441 

Missouri 161,234 64,418 

Kansas 52,003 14,695 

Nebraska 6,269 2,298 

Oklahoma 18,831 4,827 

Indian Territory 36,853 9,146 

Colorado 8,350 3,215 

California 11,045 3,711 

Kentucky 284,706 74,728 

West Virginia 43,499 . 14,786 

REALLY DEMOCRATIC STATES. 

The republicans here are claiming that Indiana is anchored 
for good in the republican column. This may be so if the 
Indiana democrats keep up their fight against each other up- 
on awkward and dead issues, but not otherwise. When the 
democrats of Indiana regain their senses and get together 
they can carry the State. They carried it in 1876 and lost 
it in 1880 because the party refused to renominate Tilden to 
the disgust of many good democrats ; they carried it again 
in 1884, and lost it in 1888 because Cleveland had soured 
the party and shamefully mistreated Hendricks. 

They, however, forgot the wrongs of Cleveland in 1892 and 
again gave him the State. Then came the marriage of Cleve- 
land and Wall Street, to be followed by the free silver craze, 
the one as bad as the other, and, of course, Indiana was lost 
as well as the Union, and is still in the wilderness. But up to 
the split in the democratic party, Indiana, notwithstanding 
its 21,000 Negro votes, was democratic and will be again 



17 

with the other democratic States of the Union whenever the 
party gets back to its old, time-honored principles. 

FIGHT OVER NEGRO POSTMASTER. 

North Carolina republicans are having a hot time with 
one another about the question of giving another appoint- 
ment to S. H. Vick, the colored postmaster at Wilson, N. C. 

President Roosevelt and Postmaster General Payne are 
receiving daily mail contributions to the already much-dis- 
cussed question. 

The latest is from ex-Representative Ewart, whose nomi- 
nation for a federal judgeship was defeated by ex-Senator 
Marion Butler. President McKinley three times nominated 
Ewart as a federal judge for North Carolina, but each time 
his confirmaton was prevented by Mr. Butler. 

The fact that Mr. Butler came here a short time ago and 
indorsed the action of Senator Pritchard, protesting against 
Vick's reappointment, is the basis of a long letter from 
Mr. Ewart, who denounces ex-Senator Butler as a traitor 
to almost every man and cause with whom or which he was 
ever connected in North Carolina. 

Then Mr. Ewart, who is evidently aspiring to leadership 
in North Carolina, takes the Negro side of the "lily white" 
question. As to Mr. Butler, he says : 

"I suppose this is the same Butler whose seat was scarcely 
warm in the senate before he began scheming and plotting 
to defeat his colleague, J. C. Pritchard, to whose re-election 
he was bound ; the same Butler who in 1897 resorted to meth- 
ods to defeat Pritchard." 



AN APPEAL FROM HON. C. W. HINES TO THE WHOLE 
WORLD IN INTEREST OF THE RACE. 

(Houston Chronicle.) 

Cleveland, Ohio, March 24. — Three hundred thousand Ne- 
groes who belong to the Equal Rights Association have ap- 
pealed to the emperors and kings of the old world to aid 
them in the United States. The petitioners declare they are 
victims of gross injustice and that all of them are likely to 
be murdered by the whites of America. Intervention 
through the representatives of the European and Asiatic 
monarchs at Washington is requested to compel the United 
States to grant the blacks the justice they assert is denied 
them. 

C. W. Hines, chairman of the executive committee of the 
Equal Rights Association, is the author of the appeal to the 



18 

old world. He made public the appeal at the headquarters 
of the association in this city. 

The views expressed are not his alone. They represent 
the sentiment of all the members of the association, for they 
were adopted at a secret session of the association in this 
city February 9. W. H. Thorp of Boston is president and I. 
E. Turner of New York is treasurer of the association. 

The right of the Negroes to appeal and foreign govern- 
ments to intervene is based on the United States' interfer- 
ence in behalf of the Cubans. Copies of the appeal have 
been sent to the heads of all foreign governments. Addi- 
tional copies will be distributed throughout the United 
States. 

Text of Negroes' Appeal. 

"We, the Afro-Americans of the United States of Ameri- 
ca," says the appeal, "are brutally and barbarously mal- 
treated and basely compelled, for no crime or misdemeanor, 
to suffer every indignity, cruelty and murder that inhuman, 
fiendish nature can invent, by some of those who once held 
the Afro-Americans in bondage and slavery or the descend- 
ants of those who once held the Afro-Americans in slavery 
and bondage in the United States, and who still without 
cause harbor in their hearts a deadly hatred against the 
Afro-American race. 

"We behold with sorrow and grief the twentieth century 
has ushered in with the same bloody catalogue staring the 
American people in their faces, witnessing mob violence, 
murder, disfranchising and crime against the Afro-Ameri- 
can in this city to be most alarmingly on the increase. Such 
oppression, wholesale lynching and wanton murder of an 
innocent people was never before heard of in any civilized 
country. 

"From one to five or more are either tortured, hung, shot 
or butchered and driven from their homes daily, while others 
are burnt to death at the stake. It has come to such a com- 
mon occurrence that the press and pulpit say but little about 
it. They pay more attention to the barbarities of the for- 
eign countries than they do to their own America; to slake 
the deadly hate and foul thirst for murder and to wallow 
their hands in the warm blood of their dying victims.. 

"The foreign powers have the same and a better right to 
interfere in defense of 10,000,000 people that are liable to be 
murdered at will by prejudiced classes who use that nick- 
name, the whites of America, for no cause whatever, only 
their skin is darker than those that call themselves white 
people. 



19 

Name Monarchs They Rely On. 

"In God's name will the King of England, will the Em- 
peror of Germany, will the Czar of Russia, will the Sultan of 
Turkey, will the Shah of Persia, will the Emperor of Austria, 
will the King of Italy and will the King of Greece, will the 
President of Switzerland, will the King of Portugal, will the 
President of France, will the King of Sweden and will the 
King of Siam, will the Emperor of or the Mikado of Japan, 
will the rulers of Belgium, Roumania, Luxemburg, Monte- 
negro and all other foreign powers interfere in some way in 
behalf of the suffering, outraged and murdered Afro-Ameri- 
can people of the United States and thus save the name of 
Christianity from reproach, mockery and derision and the 
name of humanity from shame, ridicule and contempt, and 
civilization with all of its dear amenities, from disgrace, 
scorn and ignominy? 

"For God's sake intervene to save us, the Afro-American 
men, women and children, before we are all murdered by 
those so-called prejudicial whites of America. We plead, we 
beg you, to save us." 

The Negro claims a right to vote as he pleases under the 
fourteenth and fifteenth amendments of the United States 
Constitution and does not feel obligated to forfeit that right 
on account of favoritism from any class of people. 

The Negro, as a laborer, has been misrepresented. Some 
years ago some white people wrote letters to the Houston 
press, saying that the Negro was not a reliable servant. 
This complaint was regarding house servants; but if thor- 
oughly investigated, it will be found that those complaints 
came from people who were not able to pay for the services 
of a good house servant, or else the complainants were 
mean and hard to get along with. Some of the best white 
people of this city have employed the same servants for from 
five to twenty years, and these Negroes seem to them as their 
family. The Negro, as a public laborer, is faithful. He is 
not a striker, neither is he a dynamiter, but loyal to his 
trust, ever looking to the best interests of his employer. 

He is always determined to give an honest day's work. 
This he has proven. For instance, take the great strike 
last year in the local system of the Harriman Railroad, 
known as the Southern Pacific. During that strike the Ne- 
gro proved faithful to his trust. The union men asked the 
Negroes to join with them in the strike; the Negroes gave 
them to understand that they were not satisfied with their 
salary, but they had no other hope than that of peaceable 
means of getting a raise. And they were not brothers, any- 



20 

way, therefore, could do them no good. As the union men 
demanded a closed shop and the Negroes could not become 
members of their union, the Negroes thought it most unrea- 
sonable of the union men to ask them to help the union to 
win a strike that prohibited the Negro making bread and 
butter for his wife and children. The result : a strike was 
called and fourteen hundred men lost out. 

Many Negroes are doing skilled work, but are not receiv- 
ing sufficient pay for same. I cannot say whether condi- 
tions are bright for the Negro or not. During the strike 
the Negro faced death to be loyal to the company. A great 
many were beaten and shot at, coming to and going from 
work, and full appreciation has not yet been shown the 
Negro. 

Mr. J. W. Small, the new superintendent of motive power, 
is a railroad man from the new railroad school, and the only 
way to stand in with him is to put in an honest day's work 
for the company. He is nothing else but a company man. 
He treats all men alike. He is easy to approach, if you have 
business with him. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Southern Pacific Company has a new president in 
Texas, with all system lines in Texas and Louisiana under 
his management, in the person of Mr. W. B. Scott. Mr. 
Scott is a different man from Mr. T. Fay, the retiring presi- 
dent. I have in my mind now the completion of the new 
general office, the eleven-story building, about the time of 
the big strike here in Houston, Texas, of the shop men, and 
while some loyal Negroes in the shop were facing death to 
help the company carry on its work without hindrance, Mr. 
T. Fay, president, was at the general office discharging all 
Negro porters, to give employment to the same class of men 
who were on a strike in the shop. All these Negro porters 
were faithful and honest. I knew them all; they did good 
work. And had it not been a case of race prejudice the Ne- 
gro would have been more satisfactory from this point of 
view : Less men, quicker work and better work. But now 
he is gone. It is said he resigned to go into other business, 
which is the usual saying with all big men. It is bad luck 
to harm a Christian or praying man or woman. God is al- 
ways on the side of a praying person. And when in trouble, 
no job, no money, no bread and meat in the storeroom, the 
Christian Negro will tell God about it. God will move all 
opposition from praying people, if by death ! 



21 

I have had my race at heart for many years. I am very 
poor trying to do something to help better the condition of 
my race. I once invested $500 in a passenger transfer line 
when the street car company put up partitions to separate 
Negroes from the whites. Things went well until the street 
car company paid some of the leading Negroes $5.00 per day 
to get the masses of Negroes to ride. Thus my investment 
failed to materialize. The next move I made was to organ- 
ize a Co-operative Building, Lumber, Land and Loan Com- 
pany of Texas, and chartered under the general laws of 
Texas, with shares of stock at $1.00 each. I saw that the 
poor laboring class of Negroes needed an easy co-operative 
system like this, in order that all could put their dollars to- 
gether in one interest, in a combination system well planned, 
and success was sure. I wrote the plans and Hon. J. S. Tib- 
bitt wrote the charter. But some how or other, other par- 
ties saw, to let our company live, it would have taken Texas. 
So one Negro newspaper man was called into the fight, and 
he got on our little company, to the extent that the stock- 
holders would not pay up their stock. And a failure was 
certain. One white lumberman, who operated a saw mill, 
wrote me to let him know within twenty-four hours if we 
would take 1,000 acres of timber land for 7,000 shares of 
our stock. He offered a guarantee that the land would turn 
out two million feet of lumber. I called the board together, 
but they refused his proposition. Some who only had three 
shares said they didn't want any white man in the company. 
This was our only hope, as we could not get stockholders to 
pay up their stock. I gave up a paying position and sold my 
fine horse and buggy in order to fight to keep the company 
alive — the company I loved so much, because I was t^ie pro- 
moter. But it went down. I wish to say I shall not try 
to organize my people any more, in a business concern. My 
late wife was against me trying to organize the colored peo- 
ple ; she told me I could not make them stick up. But now, 
in my view of the present high cost of living, I see nothing 
for the laboring men but a hard fight to make it up the hill, 
if at all. There are many unification plans that would be 
well for the poor man, if his confidence could be called into 
action. He will not go in with the big moneyed men, and he 
will not go in with the poor men. He must in some way 
form a joint co-operation with his brother, who is in the same 
financial condition. This is the only salvation for the poor 
laboring man. It is the quickest way to success. The lead- 
ers should help them to see it. The preachers should preach 
along this line. A preacher who cannot preach business 
once in a while is a poor preacher. He would do better 
service on the farm, without his Bible. 



22 
RACE PRIDE. 

The Negro must teach race pride around the fireside. It 
must be taught from the pulpit and in the school room. 
The Italians have a private cemetery solely of negro victims 
throughout the United States to their credit, and the Negro 
will pass by a Negro business house to go to a Dago. I no- 
tice some of the Negro business men who expect the Negro 
to patronize them do not practice what they preach. They 
want the Negro's business, and when they take their meals 
they go to the Greek Cafe. The Negro business man must 
exchange business with his brother. As a business man, if 
he fails to do this, he cannot ask anyone else to do what he 
will not do himself. Every Negro business must do the ex- 
change act with each other. This must be taught around 
the fireside continually without fail. This is the only way 
to build up a strong Negro business. 

CLUB ROOMS. 

There are no greater agencies for dragging down young 
women in the world than these upstairs club rooms for men 
and women behind closed doors ; where they play pool, drink 
whisky and get drunk. To women club rooms are the main 
road to prostitution and destruction. For men they are the 
advance agents for the State penitentiary. They are human 
butcher shops. They make widows and orphans. They 
cause meal barrels to go dry. They cause babies to cry for 
bread. They are dangerous to the church, and more dan- 
gerous to society. The flaming hell has no greater agency 
than the clubs. They must be killed. The woman that at- 
tends the club is not suitable material for a model housewife, 
neither a mother, from the fact that our sons and daughters 
must come from pure homes. For noble sons and daughters 
the mothers must be noble Christian women. That's the 
only hope for our race. In this connection I am compelled 
to mention the name of Mrs. Pearl A. Lights, who was in her 
life time a model Christian woman, the wife of Dr. F. L. 
Lights, D. D. Her work was local, but unsurpassed. She 
was born into the world to do the special work which she 
did with her whole heart. She was a Christian lady of the 
highest type ; a church worker, but she did the greatest good 
among the children, notwithstanding she worked with the 
eld people also. She was a power unequaled at anything she 
took hold of. She was kind to all, had an encouraging word 
at all times for anyone in trouble. Though rich, yet no one 
was too poor for her to stoop down and try to raise up. 
Had her work been national instead of local, America would 



23 

mourn her loss. But why so? That's heaven's gain. And 
before she left here she finished her part of the program on 
earth. 



CHAPTER IV. 

I will take up the condition of the Negro and what he is 
confronted with. He is unprotected as a citizen or as a man. 
His home is unprotected. The white man often runs over 
him ; he has no rights he feels bound to respect. The white 
man's home is sacred, we have been taught, and we are 
more than willing to accept it as a fact, and the whole truth. 
Why not our homes be sacred also? We do not want social 
equality, and we don't want the white man in our homes. 

The following article appeared in the Houston Press No- 
vember 8, 1912- which explains itself: 

"I am thejheWo who stabbed R. M. Cook," said Abner 
Windom in the eounty jail today. "He was in a room with 
Bessie Thaniel, my girl, and when I went to the window to 
talk to her, he hit me in the face. Yes, I stabbed Cook, and 
I am sorry now." 

Cook, 47, white, boarding at the Lone Star Hotel, Humble, 
and telegraph operator for the Sun Oil Company, was killed 
early yesterday morning. He was slashed from the left 
shoulder to the lower part of the abdomen and died at the 
Houston Infirmary at 7 o'clock last night. 

Was Angry. 

Windom, the Negro, was told this morning Cook was dead. 

"Well, I guess I am charged with murder," he said. "I 
was in hopes he would not die. God knows what they will 
do with me, but I stabbed him while I was angry. I went up 
to the window to talk to Bessie and I didn't know anyone 
was in the room. I was hit above the eye and that made 
me mad. I pulled my knife, reached my hand through the 
window and cut him as much as I could. She was my girl 
and he had no right to hit me for talking to her." 

The wound Cook received was eighteen inches long. Three 
ribs were almost severed, his abdomen was exposed and when 
undertakers from the Westheimer Company started to pick 
him up, his intestines fell out upon the floor. 

Before he died he asked the Thaniel woman to leave him. 
After she was gone he called for help and white persons run- 
ning the place went to his rescue after he had been in agony 
for nearly a half hour. A pool of blood surrounded him. 



24 

Dying Statement. 

"I was sleeping in a rear room of the Lone Star Hotel," 
said Cook in his dying statement to Justice Crooker. "I 
hoaid someone talking and I went to the window. I saw a 
rLeVro trying to get in at the window and I hit him with my 
fistY He reached through the window and cut me." 

The Westheimer Undertaking Company is trying to locate 
Cook's relatives. They have found one man who knows 
Cook's relatives, but he refuses to tell exactly where they live 
or to reveal his own name. 

"He has relatives in Illinois and Pennsylvania," said the 
stranger. 

Cook, a widower, said to be of a good family, may be buried 
in the potters' field because of the bad circumstances under 
which he was killed. 

If the white man be allowed to run over our homes, we 
cannot produce the women we hope to produce. The Negroes 
all over America would say the white man has a right to 
resort to the unwritten law in every case when he catches 
a negro in his bed. Yes, a Negro in a white man's bed ! 
His private home! If we allow you the golden rule, should 
we be deprived of the same golden rule on account of color? 
Very often colored women give away to white men because 
they are afraid to resist ; they know their own men in many 
cases are unprepared to protect them. The Negroes, as a 
race, do not want social equality. The white man thinks 
political equality is next to social equality. See editorial 
from the Houston Chronicle, March 3, 1903 : 

"A NEGRO RESERVATION. 

"One of the most interesting and important articles on the 
Negro was contributed by Colonel Robert Bingham of North 
Carolina to the European edition of Harper's Monthly for 
July, 1900. The writer comments on the ostracism and out- 
lawry of a white criminal by white people and the encour- 
agement and protection of a Negro criminal by Negroes. 
Many Negro associations have denounced Negro crime, but 
the New Orleans Times-Democrat in endorsing Colonel Bing- 
ham's view, points as proof of it to 'recent incidents in ur- 
ban centers in the South, and especially in New Orleans, 
Atlanta, Memphis and Richmond.' 

"In the course of Colonel Bingham's article he quotes from 
two competent authorities on the condition of the Negro 
race, Prof. Walter H. Wilcox of Cornell University and Dr. 
George T. Winston, formerly president of the University of 



y 



25 

Texas and now president of the Agricultural and Mechani- 
cal College of North Carolina. The conclusions of these two 
authorities are endorsed by Prof. J. R. Stratton in the North 
American Review for 1900. Prof. Stratton points out that, 
according to the census of 1890, the minimum illiteracy of 
the Negro is found in New England, where it is 21 7-10 per 
cent, and the maximum in the Southern 'black belt,' yet the 
Negro is four and one-half times more criminal in New Eng- 
land, hundred for hundred of the population, than he is in 
the black belt. 

"The conclusions referred to, reached by Prof. Wilcox and 
Dr. Winston are: 

"1. The Negro element is much the most criminal in our 
population. 

"2. The Negro is much more criminal as a free man than 
he was as a slave. 

- "3. The Negro is increasing in criminality with fearful 
rapidity, being one-third more criminal in 1890 than in 188'0. 
"4. The Negroes who can read and write are more crim- 
inal than the illiterate, which is true of no other elemenc o^ 
our population. 

"5. The Negro is nearly three times as criminal in the 
Northeast, where he has not been a slave for a hundred 
years, and three and a half times as criminal in the North- 
west, where he has never been a slave, than in the South, 
where he was a slave till 1865. 

"6. The Negro is three times as criminal as the native 
white and once and a half times as criminal as the foreign 
white, consisting, in many cases, of the the scum of Europe. 
"These conclusions demonstrate that from a moral point 
of view the education of the Negro is a failure, yet in justice 
to the Negro it should be said that the industrial discrimina- 
tion of the North in keeping the Negro out of the trades tends 
to make him a criminal. In the South, however, where the 
Negro is not discriminated against industrially, the crimi- 
nal tendencies of the race are so much in excess of those of 
the whites, even the scum of Europe, who come over as im- 
migrants, as to occasion great discouragement to the most 
sanguine. 

"Now social equality, the president's panacea, would result 
in miscegenation and the ruin of our own race if it could be 
carried out, which is impossible. There are not nearly 
enough federal offices to go round. So the president's other 
plan is seen to be inadequate. The great mass of the Ne- 
groes are not helped a jot by appointments of a few blacks 
to office and the invitation of a few to White House recep- 
tions. Even if we should grant, for the argument's sake, 



26 

that these absurd remedies are good remedies they do not 
stretch far enough to do the slightest good. 

"Harper's Weekly takes up the Waco Times-Herald's sug- 
gestion of a Negro State. It points out that the Negroes 
increased 18 per cent in last decade, now numbering 8,840,- 
789. 'It is obvious,' the editor of Harper's Weekly argues, 
'that at this rate of expansion not many decades can elapse 
before the colored inhabitants' of the republic will exceed 
twenty millions, most of whom will be concentrated in the 
States south of the Potomac and Ohio. Can we marvel that 
the Southern whites regard with grave misgivings the omi- 
nous increase of this element of their population, or they 
would gladly seek relief, if they could, in the wholesale de- 
portation of the blacks ?' 

"The remedy that Harper's Weekly suggests is the pur- 
chase from Mexico of Chihuahua and two or three others 
of the northern and thinly peopled Mexican States and a 
voluntary and assisted immigration thither of Southern 
blacks. We have Indian reservations, why not a Negro res- 
ervation? Southern Negroes are better than the Negroes 
of Hayti and could be depended on not to revert to barbar- 
ism. On a reservation of their own they could work out 
their salvation in their own way, and the Negro problem 
which has vexed this country for many years in many ways." 

The following article is from the Kansas City Star, Feb- 
ruary 14, 1903, dealing on the race question : 

"THE RACE PROBLEM A SOCIAL ONE. 

"Evidently the problem of what must be done for the 
black race in the United States cannot be ignored. Secre- 
tary Root's manly statement that the course heretofore pur- 
sued has failed is startling, chiefly because it gives definite 
and perhaps authoritative expression to a thought that has 
been more or less clearly developed in everybody's head. 
Some might state the question, what must be done with 
the Negroes? instead of for them. But that might be taken 
to imply that they ought to be transported to Africa or some 
other place. The Negroes are here and probably always 
will be, and Mr. Root was right in saying that the problem 
they present calls for the best thought and patriotism of the 
country. 

"Not long since the Star called attention to the difference 
between the Negro and the nigger. If that distinction is 
kept in mind, it will help to make these facts clear: That 
the question should be regarded as a social and not a polit- 



27 

ical one; that it is national in its bearings and not sectional. 
It is the 'mean nigger' that holds his race in practical sub- 
jection, and not the Negro, who is a good and self-respect- 
ing citizen. It is the mean nigger whose insolence in poli- 
tics and depravity in every walk of life has fostered that 
race hatred which is death to his own elevation and is det- 
rimental to the advancement of the whites. It is the mean 
nigger who is responsible for the unreasoning fear enter- 
tained in some quarters that if the blacks are educated and 
uplifted there might result a social intermingling. The 
respectable Negro knows as well as the white persons who 
are not prejudiced through fear know that there is be- 
tween them a race repulsion strong enough and beneficent 
enough to keep the two divisions forever separate. 

"Clearly, then, the patriotism that would solve the race 
problem in the United States would devote itself to bringing 
the Negroes as a whole to the standard of good citizenship. 
It would not treat the matter as a cause of sectional or po- 
litical dispute between the North and the South. If the 
Negro doesn't get an office he should comfort himself with 
the knowledge that there are millions of white men in the 
United States who 'would trade their chances for the presi- 
dency for a ham sandwich ;' that there are hundreds of thou- 
sands of women who pay taxes, yet who not only may not 
hold office, but who may not even vote. The reward of 
office would seem to be as just and as much of an incentive 
to good citizenship to the black man as to the white, but it 
will be withheld or given grudgingly until the Negroes as a 
class are better types of citizens. 

"In the meantime, if the ministers and those who con- 
tribute money for sending missionaries on good, fat salaries 
to the uttermost parts of the earth to convert the heathen, 
would send them or go themselves among the black people 
of the South or among the 'nigger' settlements in large cities, 
they would find plenty of work to do and they would be 
serving the Lord and their country at the same time. The 
respectable element of Negroes has been blamed justly for 
condoning too readily the faults of their brethren, the 'nig- 
gers.' But the race should not be left alone. The whites 
have a responsibility. Their 'best thought and patriotism' 
must be extended toward them to the end that the black 
race should be lifted and the white race saved from a dis- 
tracting political feud." 

The following race article appeared in the Kansas City 
Star March 16, 1903: 



28 



"A SOUTHERN WOMAN'S VIEWS ON THE RACE 

PROBLEM. 

"The Rev. Thomas Dixon, with his prediction of a war 
to the finish between whites and blacks, represents the views 
of one faction in the South as to the race problem. In the 
current issue of the Outlook Mrs. L. H. Hammond, a South- 
ern woman, states the opinion of another, and it is believed 
a large and growing party, on the same question. Her at- 
titude is as hopeful as that of Mr. Dixon is pessimistic. She 
does not anticipate the speedy advent of the millennium. 
But she looks forward to a gradual change for the better. 

"In Mrs. Hammond's opinion, the solution will lie, not in 
social equality — that is out of the question — but in the in- 
dustrial training of the Negro. Friendly business relations 
between the two races she believes is possible of attainment. 

"That the South is not oblivious to the Negroes' needs is 
apparent from the fact that out of its comparative poverty 
after the war it contributed within twenty-five years 120 
million dollars to schools for its freedmen. Its hostility to 
higher education for Negroes Mrs. Hammond attributes to 
its reasonable belief that the race must be able to earn a liv- 
ing with its hands before it studies Latin and Greek. Man- 
ual training along the lines laid down at Hampton and 
Tuskegee is regarded with growing favor throughout the 
South. 

"Present conditions, bad as they are, do not discourage 
Mrs. Hammond. As a Southern woman, she does not un- 
derestimate them. 'It is difficult,' she says, 'for the people 
of the North to understand either the pressure of the whole 
great race problem upon us as a people, or its endless rami- 
fications into the smallest details of our individual life.' 
Yet, remembering how recently the race has emerged from 
barbarism, she does not wonder at the 'darker side' of the 
problem. 'It is in the exceptional Negroes,' she says, 'and 
in their constantly, if slowly, increasing numbers, that we 
find a visible warrant for our faith in the future of their 
race.' 

"Mrs. Hammond does not agree with Mr. Dixon that the 
industrial and moral education of the Negro will only in- 
crease race hostility. In her experience she has found much 
mutual kindliness and respect. The business dealings of 
the two races, she believes, are generally carried on without 
friction. 'No honorable Negro,' she says, 'lacks the respect 
of his white neighbors. This respect does not take the form 



29 

of social intercourse, which such Negroes desire as little as 
we ; but it is none the less expressed and understood.' 

"It is evidently in some such way as that indicated by this 
Southern woman that the race problem is to be solved. That 
these views are held in the South, where the work is to be 
done, gives them an especial significance." 

The following is an editorial in the Houston Chronicle 
December, 1909. My note book does not show date of the 
month. I do not accept it as a whole ; however, some part of 
it is too good to not reproduce it in this race booklet. 



"AMERICAN SOCIAL PROBLEMS. 

"We may as well make up our minds that the American 
Negro will never go to Liberia for the purpose of forming a 
Negro republic. He is here to stay. He came in the first 
instance, not because he wanted to, but because he was com- 
pelled to make his home in America. It is a pathetic story 
— this story of the imported African who now furnishes 
about one-seventh of our entire population. Other races 
of immigrants, by contact with our institutions, have been 
civilized. The Negro has been only domesticated. The 
very qualities of manliness and intelligence which are essen- 
tial for citizenship in a democracy were systematically ex- 
punged from the Negro race through 200 years of slavery. 
The stronger, independent type was practically eliminated. 
It is true that the Negro's present condition is not altogether 
the result of his slavery to the white man. Back of his 
slavery are centuries of barbarous existence, the influences 
of which are still being felt. Not many centuries ago the 
Negro was brother to the beast in the jungles of Africa. 
It cannot be expected that the Negro will leap from this 
degradation to a position of equality with the white race in 
the short space of a couple of hundred years. It took the 
white man much longer than this to acquire his present su- 
premacy. 

"The Negro is coming to the city. In Chicago, from 1880 
to 1890, the white population increased three-fold while the 
colored population increased five-fold. In Philadelphia, 
during the same period, the white population increased 50 
per cent, while the colored population increased 100 per cent. 
In the thirty-eight largest cities of the country the Negro 
population in ten years increased 38 per cent, while the 
white population, including foreign immigration, increased 
only 33 per cent— this in spite of the fact that the Negro pop- 



30 

ulation has not kept pace with the native white population 
throughout the United States. 

"The Negro and the white race, especially in the South, 
are in many ways indissolubly linked together. In many 
respects the welfare of one depends upon the welfare of the 
other. The low standard of living among the Negroes keeps 
down the wages of the whites. If the Negro is content to 
live in a miserable hut, dress in rags, subsist on the poorest 
kind of food, the wages of the white man, engaged in the 
same kind of work, will be constantly pressed toward the 
same low level. The higher the standard of living among 
the Negroes the higher will be the standard of the white 
people in the same occupation, and in the same territory. 
If the Negro's tendency is toward criminality, there is con- 
stant incitement to criminal tendencies in the white man. 
Crimes committed by one race provoke crimes on the part 
of the other. If the Negro is diseased it will be difficult to 
prevent the spread of the contagion among the white people. 
According to the last census, for a portion of the Northern 
States, for every 1,000 white children under 5 years of age, 
there was 49.7 deaths in one year, and for every 1,000 colored 
children under 5 years of age there were 118.5 deaths, an 
excess of Negro infant mortality of 137 per cent. The cen- 
sus also reports that Negro deaths in cities owing to tuber- 
culosis are proportionately 2.8' times as many as white deaths* 
while deaths owing to pneumonia are 89 per cent greater. 
In a leading Southern city where mortality statistics of Ne- 
groes were compiled before the war it has been shown that 
from 1822 to 1848 the colored death rate from consumption 
was a trifle less than the white, but since 1865, the white 
mortality from that cause has decreased 38 per cent, while 
the Negro mortality has increased 70 per cent. The death 
rates from consumption in Charleston in 1900 were 189.8 
for 100,000 whites and 647.7 for 100,000 Negroes, an ex- 
cess of 241 per cent. 

"It is largely due to the immorality of the Negro that the 
death rate of his race is so great, but, unquestionably, his 
ignorance has very much to do with it. Surely here is a 
race which must have the attention of our American citizen- 
ship, because the destinies of the white man and the black 
man are linked up forever. If the black man goes down, 
the white man is bound to go down with him. 

"The remedy for the situation is not to be found in the 
so-called higher education. To be sure, it is necessary to 
have Negro doctors and preachers and lawyers, as well as 
Negro teachers, but it is far more essential to have Negro 
carpenters and blacksmiths and plumbers and machinists. 



31 

It is only as the Negro can hold his own in the community 
as a producer that the white man will respect him. It is 
only as he does a man's work in the world that he will find 
the place that should belong to him. 

"But the elevation of the Negro race cannot, in all fair- 
ness, be left in the hands of the Negro himself. He is en- 
titled to the help and co-operation of those who have been 
more highly favored than he. While it may be true that the 
Negro is the most criminal element in our population and 
that he is constantly increasing in criminology, it should be 
remembered that more than seven-tenths of the Negro crim- 
inals are under 30 years of age. Our task is with the chil- 
dren and the young people, and these are responsive to the 
efforts of an enlightened American Christian citizenship." 

The white man claims the Negro votes against his best 
friend in the South. 

This is an issue, and the Negro has a right to his opinion. 
I can't agree with the Chronicle. From the fact that the Ne- 
groes, as a whole, vote to bring prosperity to all the people, 
therefore he is not voting aginst the interests of the South- 
ern white man, but to retain good times and confidence in 
the administration. But the man who votes for the party 
that wrecks the big industries and financial institutions and 
drives the commercial activity to the wall, is indeed the 
dangerous voter. This is not the Negro in this class of 
voters. 

The Negro, when he votes for the party whose principles 
are the safest, is not voting against the South, but for the 
best interests of all the people. But v , on the other hand, 
the white man who votes for the party whose principles are 
unsafe, is not voting only, as he thinks, against the Negro, 
but against all the people and all the industries, as well as 
all legitimate investments. Thus, he stops the money from 
rolling and he causes banks to go to the wall ; he also hits at 
his own meal barrel and smokehouse. 

There is a difference between the Northern and Southern 
Democrats. The uninformed Southern Democrat, in the 
country knows nothing about Democratic principles, and 
neither can he explain anything about them ; he only clings 
to the name on account of slave prejudice from fireside train- 
ing. He does not know it is an issue based upon principle, 
dealing with high and low tariff. 

Ex-President Cleveland was a Northern Democrat, and 
not a very able statesman, but a good man. A fair-minded 
man, unprejudiced to the Negro race. 

The following is his speech in the interest of Dr. Wash- 



32 

ington's school April 15, 1903, from the New Orleans Daily 
Picayune : 

"New York, April 14. — Former President Grover Cleve- 
land was the principal speaker tonight at a meeting held in 
the Concert Hall of Madison Square Garden in the interest 
of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. 

"Among those on the platform with Mr. Cleveland were: 
Mayor Low, who presided; Booker T. Washington, Edgar 
G. Murphy, Dr. Lyman Abbott and George F. Peabody. Mrs. 
Cleveland sat in the gallery with Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Car- 
negie, who are Mr. Cleveland's hosts while he is in the city. 

"Mr. Cleveland, who was greeted with prolonged applause 
as he was introduced by Mayor Low, said : 

Grover Cleveland's Address. 

" 'I have come here tonight as a sincere friend of the Ne- 
gro, and I should be very sorry to suppose that my good and 
regular standing in such company needed support at this 
late day either from certificate or confession of faith. In- 
asmuch, however, as there may be differences of thought 
and sentiment among those who profess to be friends of the 
Negro, I desire to declare myself as belonging to the Booker 
Washington-Tuskegee section of the organization. I be- 
lieve that the days of 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' are past. I do 
not believe that either the decree that made the slaves free 
or the enactment that suddenly invested them with the rights 
of citizenship any more purged them of their racial and 
slavery-bred imperfections and deficiencies than that it 
changed the color of their skin. I believe that among the 
nearly 9,000,000 of Negroes who have been intermixed with 
our citizenship there is still a grievous amount of ignorance, 
a sad amount of viciousness and a tremendous amount of 
laziness and thriftlessness. 

" 'I believe that these conditions inexorably present to the 
white people of the United States, to each in his environ- 
ment, and under the mandate of good citizenship, a problem 
which neither enlightened self-interest nor the higher mo- 
tive of human sympathy will permit them to put aside. I 
believe our fellow countrymen in the Southern and late slave- 
holding States, surrounded by about nine-tenths, or nearly 
8,000,000, of this entire Negro population, and who regard 
their material prosperity, their peace and even the safety 
of their civilization interwoven with the Negro problem, 
are entitled to our utmost consideration and sympathetic 
fellowship. I am thoroughly convinced that the efforts of 
Booker Washington and the methods of Tuskegee Institute 



33 

point the way to a safe and beneficent solution of the vexa- 
tious Negro problem at the South, and I know that the good 
people at the North, who have aided these efforts and meth- 
ods, have illustrated the highest and best citizenship and the 
most Christian and enlightened philanthropy. 

" 'I cannot, however, keep out of my mind tonight the 
thought that with all we of the North may do, the realization 
of our hopes for the Negro must, after all, mainly depend — 
except so far as it rests with the Negroes themselves — upon 
the sentiment and conduct of leading and responsible white 
men of the South, and upon the maintenance of a kindly and 
helpful feeling on their part toward those in their midst 
who so much need their aid and encouragement. 

" 'I need waste no time in detailing the evidence that this 
aid and encouragement has thus far been generously forth- 
coming. Schools for the education of Negro children and 
institutions for their industrial training are scattered all 
over the South and are liberally assisted by the Southern 
public and private funds. So far as I am informed the sen- 
timent in favor of the largest extension and broadest influ- 
ence of Tuskegee Institute and kindred agencies is universal, 
and I believe that without exception, the Negroes who fit 
themselves for useful occupations and service find willing 
and cheerful patronage and employment among their white 
neighbors. The man who is beyond doubt the best authority 
in the world on the prospects of the Negro race, he who 
founded and is now at the head of the Tuskegee Institute, 
and is the most notable representative of Negro advance, 
said at the Atlanta Exposition in 1895 : 

" ' "And in this connection it is well to bear in mind that 
whatever other sins the South may be called to bear, when 
it comes to business pure and simple, it is in the South that 
the Negro is given a man's chance in the commercial world, 
and in nothing is this Exposition more eloquent than in em- 
phasizing this chance. Our greatest danger is that in the 
great leap from slavery to freedom, we may overlook the 
fact that the masses of us are to live by the production of 
our hands and fail to keep in mind that we shall prosper 
in proportion as we learn to dignify and glorify common la- 
bor and put brains and skill into the common occupations 
of life — shall prosper in proportion as we learn to draw the 
line between the superficial and the substantial — the orna- 
mental gewgaws of life and the useful." 

" 'I do not know how it may be with other Northern friends 
of the Negro, but I have faith in the honor and sincerity of 
the respectable white people of the South in their relations 
with the Negro and his improvement and well-being. They 



34 

do not believe in the social equality of the race and they make 
no false pretense in regard to it. That this does not grow 
out of hatred of the Negro is very plain. It seems to me that 
there is abundant sentiment and abundant behavior among 
the Southern whites toward the Negroes to make us doubt 
the justice of charging this denial of social equality to preju- 
dice, as we usually understand the word. Perhaps it is 
born of something so much deeper and more imperious than 
prejudice as to amount to a racial instinct. Whatever it is, 
let us remember that it has condoned the Negroes' share in 
the humiliation and spoliation of the white men of the 
South during the saturnalia of reconstruction days, and has 
allowed a kindly feeling for the Negro to survive the time 
when the South was deluged by a perilous flood of indiscrim- 
inate, unintelligent and blighting Negro suffrage. What- 
ever it is, let us try to be tolerant and considerate of the feel- 
ings and even the prejudice of racial instinct of our white 
fellow countrymen of the South, who, in the solution of the 
Negro problem, must, amid their own surroundings, bear the 
heat of the day and stagger under the weight of the white 
man's burden. 

' 'There are, however, considerations related to this fea- 
ture of the Negro question which may be regarded as more 
in keeping with the objects and purposes of this occasion. 

" 'As friends of the Negro, firmly believing in the possi- 
bility of his improvement and advancement, and sincerely 
and confidently laboring to that end, it is folly for us to ig- 
nore the importance of the ungrudging co-operation on the 
part of the white people of the South in this work. Labor 
as we will, those who do the lifting of the weight must be 
those who stand next to it. This co-operation cannot be 
forced ; nor can it be gained by gratuitously running counter 
to firmly fixed and tenaciously held Southern ideas, or even 
prejudices. We are not brought to the point of doing or over- 
looking evil that good may come when we proceed upon the 
theory that before reaching the stage where we may be di- 
rectly and practically confronted with the question of the 
Negro's full enjoyment of civic advantage or even of all of 
his political privileges, there are immediately before us and 
around us questions demanding our immediate care, and that 
in dealing effectively with these we cannot confidently rely 
upon the encouragement and assistance of every thoughtful 
and patriotic citizen of the land, wherever he may live, and 
whatever may be his ideas or predelictions concerning the 
more remote phases of the Negro problem. These questions 
that are so immediately pressing have to do with the practi- 
cal education of the Negro, and especially with fitting him 



35 

to compete with his white neighbors, in gaining a decent, re- 
spectable and remunerative livelihood. Booker Washing- 
ton, in speaking of the conditions and needs of the race, has 
wisely said : 

" 'It is at the bottom of life we must begin, and not at 
the top. Nor should we permit our grievances to over- 
shadow our opportunities." 

" 'In summing up the whole matter, there is one thing of 
which we can be absolutely and unreservedly certain. When 
we aid Tuskegee Institute and agencies like it, striving for 
the mental and manual education of the Negfo at the South, 
we are in every point of view rendering him the best possible 
service. Whatever may be his ultimate destiny, we are thus 
helping to fit him for filling his place and bearing its respon- 
sibilities. We are sowing well in the soil at "the bottom of 
life" the seeds of the black man's development and useful- 
ness. These seeds will not die, but will sprout and grow; 
and if it be within the wise purpose of God, the hardened 
surface of no outward sentiment or prejudice can prevent 
the bursting forth of the blade and plant of the Negro's ap- 
pointed opportunity into the brightest sunlight of a cloud- 
less day.' 

Murphy's Address. 

" 'I think that wise men everywhere are recognizing in 
the principal of Tuskegee one of the greatest moral assets 
of our country today. 

" 'The South has not applauded him with undiscriminat- 
ing agreement, nor with monotonous, thoughtless, profitless 
acclaim. The South has sometimes blamed him. But the 
South is too fair to him and to his race to allow the occasion 
of disagreement to distort the broad perspective in which she 
has viewed and appreciated that arduous public service 
through which, for twenty years, in cheerful patience and un- 
affected modesty, he has labored for the upbuilding of his 
humble and untutored fellows. 

" 'He has greatly done a great work in response to a great 
need. North and South, there have been those who have 
seen peril in the Negro's progress, but if the progress of the 
Negro brings peril with it, that peril is nothing in compari- 
son with the perils attendant on the Negro's failure.' 

"Dr. Lyman Abbott, who followed, said that the South de- 
served great credit for taking up, as it had, an untried prob- 
lem in helping the Negro to help himself. 

" 'And the North,' he said, 'has given her scant credit. 
She has given him schools that the North has refused him, 



36 

and done many other things toward his future that the North 
never thought of.' 

"Dr. Abbott next spoke of the great work of Booker T. 
Washington, and praised him in the highest terms, declaring 
he had done as much for the white race as for the colored. 
His work had really brought about the union of North and 
South in the work that he had taken up as his life task. 

"Quoting a remark made by Henry Ward Beecher, to the 
effect that we should 'make the Negro worthy first, and then 
give him suffrage,' Dr. Abbott said: 

'We made the error of giving him suffrage first, and the 
unfortunate Negro has had to suffer ever since. What the 
Negro wants is education. It all depends upon education 
whether the Negro will be a shackle to our feet or wings to 
our body.' 

"W. H. Baldwin, Jr., treasurer of the Tuskegee Institute, 
announced that, since the meeting had begun, he had re- 
ceived two telegrams, one announcing a gift of $10,000 from 
a lady in Ohio, and the other a gift of $1,000 from a lady and 
gentleman in the South. He said that $56,000 had been need- 
ed to pay the indebtedness of the institute, and that, taking 
the gifts into cons'ideration, there was still a sum of $45,000 
needed, for which he made an urgent plea, as well as for a 
further endowment sum. 

"Mr. Cleveland, in introducing Booker T. Washington, the 
last speaker of the evening, said : 

" 'I have to introduce to you a man too well known by every 
man in the United States, a man who has been spoken of too 
frequently and too favorably, for it to be necessary for me 
to say more than — here is Booker T. Washington.' 

Prof. Washington's Address. 

"Prof. Washington said in part: 

" 'The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute at Tus- 
kegee, Ala., is the outgrowth of the efforts of General S. C. 
Armstrong of the Hampton Institute in Virginia. General 
Armstrong was one of the great seers and prophets who re- 
alized that the task of the-nation was not fulfilled when the 
shackles of physical slavery were struck from the limbs of 
the millions of slaves of the South. 

' 'He realized that 9,000,000 of human beings, steeped in 
ignorance, minus experience, could be but half free. He 
foresaw that the nation must have a new birth and a new 
freedom, and that this regeneration must include the indus- 
trial and moral and religious freedom of the ex-slaves. Fur- 
ther, in refusing to return to his comfortable Northern home 



37 

after the surrender at Appomattox, and in deciding to re- 
main South to help in fighting for freedom in the larger and 
higher sense, General Armstrong appreciated, as few Amer- 
icans have, that the North owes an unfilled duty to the 
South. 

" 'General Armstrong said, by word and action, that it was 
unjust to leave the South with its industrial system disor- 
ganized and overturned in the midst of a poverty that for- 
bade the proper education of the white youth — to say nothing 
of millions of recently emancipated black children.' ! 



THREE GREAT PARTIES, VIZ.: THE DEMOCRATIC, 
REPUBLICAN AND THE NATIONAL PRO- 
GRESSIVE PARTY. 

Now the question is, which is the best for the Negro? 

As far as the Negro is concerned the Republican party has 
outlived its usefulness through President Taft, from the 
fact that he said he "would not appoint a Negro to office in 
the South where there was any objection." It seems very 
strange that he was so very anxious to please a Democratic 
South, which was against him. All he should have required 
was an indorsement from the leading Republicans of the 
South or the State in which the applicant" lived. The Dem- 
ocratic party is not built upon a safe foundation. The Pro- 
gressive party is a new party, with its history to make. 

But who is behind it? Its leader is the greatest living 
American statesman today under heaven, in the person of 
Col. Theo. Roosevelt. I can't see other than the necessity 
of the new party. All fair-minded men must agree with 
the colonel in his contention that the nomination was stolen 
from him at the National Republican Convention in Chicago, 
111. The general election proved that fact. Then why 
should any honest man or set of men criticise him for not 
desiring to further associate with a dishonest party, whose 
motto is to rob and steal? 

Do you say the standards cannot be raised? Do you say 
there is nothing fair and square in politics? If so let the 
Colonel put forth all efforts to build up a clean, new party. 
The Republican party has closed the door of hope against the 
Negro. There will be no more civil wars, with the white 
man against the white man in the interest of the Negro! 
There are no more Abraham Lincolns. 

Col. Roosevelt has no equal today. Those who dislike him 
must confess that he is a great man. He is only Col. Roose- 



38 

velt. He may be hard to understand, but, however, he does 
what he thinks is right and for the best interests of all the 
people. That's all we can expect of any leader. The Son 
of God could not please all the people when on earth. Neither 
do we expect man to do so. 

I further refer you to the press concerning him : 



"THREATS AGAINST THE SOUTH." 

(From the Houston Chronicle February 23, 1903.) 

"Recent Washington dispatches of the New York Even- 
ing Post and recent editorials in that paper threaten the 
South with another 'carpetbag' regime unless the South con- 
sent to appointments like the recent one of Crum to the 
collectorship of the Port of Charleston. The New York 
Tribune has been flourishing the bludgeon of Crumpacker- 
ism, the reduction of Southern representation under that 
clause of the Fourteenth amendment which constitutional 
lawyers agree is nullified by the Fifteenth amendment. 

"The South is not intimidated by either of these threats. 
The white men of the South are not looking for trouble, but 
are ready to meet any trouble that may be thrust upon them. 
It would be possible for the Northern majority to reduce the 
South's representation without legal right to do so. The 
South would properly defend itself against such an usurpa- 
tion of right which the Supreme Court of the United States 
would in all probability set aside as an encroachment upon 
its jurisdiction. If the constitutional provisions of the 
Southern States are violative of the federal constitution, 
it is not Congress, but the Supreme Court of the United 
States that must be appealed to. It has been shown over 
and over again that Northern States have the same educa- 
tional qualifications of the suffrage that the Southern States 
have, that what the extreme negrophilists are saying in ef- 
fect is this : Tn the North an educational qualification of 
the suffrage that excludes white men mainly is legal and 
morally right, but in the South the same educational qualifi- 
cation of the suffrage, because it excludes black men mainly, 
is illegal and morally wrong.' 

"When it comes to the other threat of a revival of the 
'carpetbag' regime, that is sheer nonsense. Many people 
and many politicians in the North are mad with negrophil- 
ism, but scarcely to this extent. It is as well not to blink 
the truth. Although telling the truth may bring upon us 
the unjust charge of disloyalty, it is right that the truth 



39 

should be told. A revival of 'carpetbagism' in the South 
would mean nothing less than civil war. 

"If 'carpetbagism' was overthrown, not without bloodshed 
in the years succeeding Appomatox when the South was pros- 
trate from defeat in the greatest war of modern times, does 
any sane man think it would be tolerated after twenty-six 
years of recuperation and marvelous prosperity and increase 
in strength? Dragooning the South would result in armed 
revolution no less certainly than a similar policy in any part 
of England. We of the South are Anglo-Saxons and the 
spirit of liberty and home rule is strong within us. The 
South grew loyal after the last war because, after reconstruc- 
tion had been overthrown, our liberty, our State govern- 
ments were left us. We are anxious to remain loyal, but 
our loyalty to liberty and to our State governments is para- 
mount. The administration may be as imperial as it pleases 
abroad, but imperialism at home crosses the danger line. 
We of the South are citizens of a republic of republics, not 
subjects of an empire." 

(Houston Post, February 25, 1903.) 

"Washington, Feb. 24. — Senator Tillman of South Caro- 
lina finished his speech on the Negro question late this even- 
ing. The consensus of opinion among those who heard him 
seems to be that he did much toward removing from his 
name the stigma which has rested there so long on account 
of his intemperate declaration and actions and his 'pitch- 
fork' brand of statesmanship in general. He said yesterday 
that he proposed speaking in a way that would surprise his 
friends and disappoint his enemies, and it is generally held 
that he succeeded in doing this very thing. There was 
nothing at all intemperate about that portion of his speech 
delivered today, and he handled convincing facts at his com- 
mand in a manner eminently to his credit. He treated the 
race question, from the Southerner's standpoint, and did it 
so well that the cause of the South was, no doubt, benefited 
instead of harmed, as many feared it would be. The gal- 
leries were packed long before he commenced to speak, and 
he was given the closest attention throughout. 

"Washington, Feb. 24. — The Indianola, Miss., postoffice 
case occupied the major portion of the Senate's time today. 
Mr. Tillman spoke for three hours in continuation of his re- 
marks begun yesterday on the race question, and was fol- 
lowed by Mr. Carmack (Tenn.). During the morning hour 
several bills and resolutions were passed and consideration 
was given the bill to further provide for the safekeeping of 
public money on deposit in national banks. The agricultu- 



40 

ial appropriation bill was also considered and the committee 
amendments agreed, to, except the Statehood rider, which 
was passed over. The Senate will meet tomorrow at 11 
o'clock, which, until otherwise ordered, will be the hour for 
convening. 

"Mr. Tillman, in opening his remarks begun yesterday 
in reference to the Indianola, Miss., postoffice case, said the 
president and the postmaster general, in dealing with the 
Indianola postoffice, had transcended their authority and re- 
sorted to methods which were both tyrannical and unconsti- 
tutional. 

"He wanted to know if, in figuring up the purpose of their 
new-born zeal, this cold-blooded, calculative, advisedly-taken 
action was not prompted by a low motive. He charged that 
800,000 Negroes were coercing 50,000,000 of whites in the 
North to deal with 17,000,000 white men in the South, in the 
interest of the 8,000,000 ignorant Negroes in that section. 
He referred to the cost in lives and money on account of the 
race problem in this country, and addressing the Republican 
side, called on them to meet him 'upon the same plane of pa- 
triotism, of race pride and civilization, and not to fall into 
the pitiful cesspool of party politics.' He read extracts from 
the letter of the president, written some time ago, giving his 
views with respect to appointment of Negroes to office. He 
wanted to be just to the president, he said, but the views 
were superficial. 'How little and small and infinitesmal,' he 
said, ' is the knowledge behind such a view.' He added that 
the people of the North have no more use for the Negro at 
close quarters than he had. He cited instances of assaults 
by Negroes on white women and declared that the more the 
Northern people find out about the Negro the less use they 
have for him. The ballot of the Negro, he maintained, was 
a menace to good government and the people of the North 
are coming to realize that the enfranchisement of him bor- 
dered on a crime. 

"Reverting to the president's utterance that he was un- 
willing to shut the door of hope and opportunity in the case 
of a worthy and competent colored man, Mr. Tillman said 
at first blush there is not a man alive who would not agree 
with that sentiment, but he inquired if it ever occurred to 
anyone that in opening that door of hope it might not be 
shut in the face of the white man. The door of hope in 
South Carolina, said he, at one time had been closed by 
bayonets to the whites for eight years, while rapine, murder 
and misgovernment ran riot, with an abomination in the 
sight of man presiding over the State. He declared that he 
did not hate the Negro, and that all Negroes are not bad. 



41 

Only a small percentage were bad, and these, he said, are 
leading the rest and being patted on the back by the politi- 
cians. 

"He regarded it as his duty, he said, to his State, to stand 
forever opposed to any idea of political or social equality on 
the part of the Negro with the whites. The purpose of those 
who indorse the president's door of hope policy, he declared, 
is that in time South Carolina should become a state of mu- 
lattos, and in this event he predicted that there would be 
more blood shed than was ever shed before. 

'• 'I beg you, for God's sake,' he said, facing the Republi- 
can side, 'not to produce an acute stage of hatred which will 
bring the two races together with the resolve of the whites 
to die in order to retain their supremacy.' 

"Mr. Tillman said his newspaper friends always took great 
pains to quote everything he said that was 'hot,' leaving out 
the rational, and in this respect a great wrong had been done 
him. 'A lie,' he said, 'never had any particular truth,' and 
he would not attempt to make even a start to run down those 
that have been told on him. 

"Mr. Tillman poked fun at Mr. Hanna and read the title 
of the bill he recently introduced to pension ex-slaves. 'Oh, 
my God,' said he. 'did Mr. Hanna mean that, or is it a polit- 
ical dodge?' 

"The effect of the bill was, he declared, to give opportunity 
to unscrupulous Negroes to bamboozle and deceive their peo- 
ple by securing subscriptions, ostensibly to further interests 
of the bill. He concluded by saying that 'in proportion as 
you arouse false hope in the minds of these people, you are 
only sowing the wind which will flame up into a whirlwind 
later on.' 

"Mr. Tillman spoke -for three hours. He was followed by 
Mr. Carmack (Tenn.), who said the action of the president 
in the Indianola case was not in accord with reason, justice 
or the constitution. He said that if the closing of the Indian- 
ola postoffice is to be taken as the measure of the strength 
of the executive and the power of the federal government, 
that the government at Washington deserves to be despised 
for its weakness and imbecility. The postoffice belonged, he 
said, to the United States, and he inquired if a handful of 
ruffians was more powerful than the government, 'with its 
militant president at its head.' 

"A bill was passed today creating a new division of the 
Eastern District of Texas, and provided for the holding of 
sessions of court at Texarkana. 

"Mr. Quay sought to secure a vote on the Statehood bill 
tomorrow, but Mr. Nelson objected." 



42 
Mr. Carmack of Tennessee was killed. — Writer. 
(From the Houston Chronicle, February 17, 1903.) 

"Washington, Feb. 17. — Word has reached Washington 
that President Roosevelt's action in closing the postoffice at 
Indianola, Miss., is not proving nearly so disastrous to the 
white people of that town as to the colored residents. 

"The whites have organized and are maintaining a special 
messenger service between Indianola and Greensburg, where 
all mail for Indianola is delivered now, and through this 
service are obtaining their letters twice a day. 

"The messengers are under orders not to accept the let- 
ters of the colored people of Indianola under any circum- 
stances, with the result that all communication between the 
plantations in that part of Mississippi practically has ceased. 

"The colored people are in despair. 

"They do not understand the situation. They only know 
in a general way that the postoffice has been closed by order 
of the president of the United States and that their mail is 
not coming to them on that account. 

"The situation has a humorous as well as a pathetic side. 

"The purpose of the president in closing the Indianola 
office was to punish the white residents for their conduct in 
forcing the colored postmistress to resign. It now appears 
that the punishment is being visited on the colored brethren 
and that the whites are taking fairly good care of themselves. 

"They have ceased to protest about the office being kept 
closed and are awaiting philosophically the time when the 
scandal shall die out and the department conclude to resume 
mail service." 

(From the Kansas City Star, March 19, 1903.) 

"Washington, March 18. — The race question was discussed 
in the Senate today again. Mr. Money spoke for two hours, 
his remarks having direct reference to the action of the pres- 
ident in closing the Indianola, Miss., postoffice. Mr. Money 
delivered a severe criticism of the president, stating in the 
course of his remarks that Mr. Roosevelt was not fair. He 
said that in the South it was believed that Mr. Roosevelt, 
when he succeeded Mr. McKinley, would make an American 
instead of a sectional president, but that a change had come 
over this dream. 'He is not so much of an American presi- 
dent,' said Mr. Money, 'as he is president of the black belt,' 
and he added with some feeling, 'we don't consider him a 
great American president.' 



43 
This Is a White Man's Country. 

"He declared that of all the appointments made in Missis- 
sippi none had given such general disgust as those made by 
this administration, and he said they had raised the ques- 
tion of social equality of the Negro. However, he said, 
there could never possibly be any social equality between the 
two races. 'There is a race prejudice in the South,' he said, 
'and I thank God that there is.' 

"The prejudice against the Negro, he asserted, is not local, 
but prompted by a universal, world-wide sentiment. An- 
swering Mr. Foraker, he said thai; these recent appointments 
had revived the race questionXand while the people of the 
South had heretofore tolerated negro office holders, they did 
not want any more of them. rTriis is a white man's country 
and a white man's government,' he said. 'It has been carved 
out of the wilderness and conquered from the Indians, not 
for the African, but for the white man.' 

Negroes Should Not Vote. 

"Mr. Money expressed the conviction that the amendment 
to the constitution which made Negroes voters was a tre- 
mendous mistake, and he said a vast number of the people 
of the North entertained the same view. He said there had 
been no objection in the South to a Negro working, and none 
had been killed for so doing, as was the case in Illinois. The 
feeling which obtained in the South, he said, was that if a 
white man did not think himself socially better than the 
Negro, he was not half so good. 

" 'Would you decitizenize the Negro as to voting?' asked 
Mr. Foraker, 'and if so, should that be taken into account 
in fixing the representation in Congress?' 

Negro Office Holders Not Wanted. 

" 'That is another question,' said Mr. Money, 'the partici- 
pation of the Negro in the affairs of government is dan- 
gerous.' 

" 'Is the demand of the South,' inquired Mr. Spooner, 
'that the president of the United States shall in no case ap- 
point a Negro to federal office in the South?' 

"Mr. Money replied that there was no demand made and 
no authority for it, but that it was the feeling in the South 
that no Negro, no matter what his qualifications might be, 
should hold federal office. The whole truth of history, he 
declared, showed the utter incompetence of the Negro race 
for self-government." 



44 

So far as Mr. Washington could learn there was no fric- 
tion between the races in Calvin township and the vicinity. 
The white probate judge of the county assured him that the 
condition of the community had improved steadily; that it 
gave the courts less trouble than some of the white town- 
ships, and that the relations of the two races were "mutually 
pleasant." The judge thought there had been no deprecia- 
tion in the price of land. "To a stranger buying the land," 
he said, "the colored residents might be an objection; but 
I do not think it would be to those who know the colored 
people of Calvin." The Cass County clerk told Mr. Wash- 
ington that the people met "in a business way with no dis- 
tinction." Land sold for as much in Calvin township, he 
said, as in any other part of the county. An ex-sheriff de- 
clared that the Negroes had made a great advance within the 
last twenty-five years, and that the whites who knew them 
made no objection to them. A Democratic lawyer of Cass- 
opolis and the proprietor of the Democratic paper there 
agreed that the third generation at Calvin was showing a 
great improvement over the second. "There is no social 
mingling," they said, "but otherwise the relations of the 
races are entirely friendly." 

Mr. Washington thinks there is nothing unusual about 
the Calvin community. "It is simply the story," he says, 
"of the growth of a people when given the American chance 
to grow naturally and gradually. With the Negro, whether 
considered as individuals or in groups, I find that the bearing 
of responsibility is one of the chief essentials of growth." 
The experience of the Calvin Negroes is quite outside the 
scheme of things predicted by the Rev. Thomas Dixon. 



PRESIDENT WILSON. 

Mr. Wilson is indeed a good man, and has a noble charac- 
ter, and is an educated Christian gentleman. 

But is he a statesman? Can his party guarantee there 
will be no panic? Can his party guarantee there will be no 
3-cerit cotton? Can his party guarantee there will be no 
Coxey's army marching into Washington City? If he can 
make good there is nothing to be lost by his election. But 
he must save the industries ; he must also save the country. 

(From the Kansas City Star, February 15, 1903.) 
"New York, Feb. 14.— The thirteenth annual dinner of the 
JNew York Press Club was given tonight at the Waldorf- 
Astoria. More than 300 club members and invited guests 



45 

occupied places at the tables, including William J. Bryan, 
Mayor Low, Shizoo Rondo, Japan ; Walter Damrosch, Sena- 
tor Tillman, General D. E. Sickles and John Schroers of the 
St. Louis Westliche-Post. President Joseph Howard, Jr.. 
announced that President Roosevelt had expected to be pres- 
ent, but had sent his regrets at not being able to attend the 
dinner. Mr. Howard read a telegram from the German am- 
bassador, in which Baron Sternberg said : 

" 'Four men met, negotiated in perfect harmony and good 
faith and now separate with best feelings of friendship. 
If four men can agree there seems to be no reason why four 
nations should not be able to agree. I feel confident they 
will as soon as they trust and understand each other in the 
same way we did.' 



u 



Senator Tillman's Speech. 

"Senator Tillman's speech was the feature of the night. 
He said in part: 

" 'I cannot understand why I should have been the only 
representative of the august body of which I am a member. 
Now, I have no message which I have come to deliver to you. 
In my experience I have found that the better acquainted 
the gentlemen of the press become with me the better they 
like me. But I ask no favors of you. I come from a State 
where the people do their own thinking and their own vot- 
ing. I think this is an occasion on which I ought to get 
even with the press. You have 365 days in the year in 
which to make and unmake public men ; but you don't make 
and unmake them in the State of South Carolina.' 

"Referring to the Negro question, he said that President 
Roosevelt had raised a subject that will not easily down. It 
had brought forth a number of comments from prominent 
men of the North and had raised a storm in the South. 
After mentioning a number of these comments and the men 
who made them, he said: 

" 'You have had this subject, Roosevelt, Hanna, Ireland 
and finally Smooted, and now it seems to me it is about time 
that we had some one who knows something about it say 
something. What are my qualifications? 

"Cursed by a Negro. 

"First, he said, he had been cursed by a Negro mammy. 
Then, although he had not served in the Confederate army, 
he had tried to join it and had been prevented only by an 
accident that deprived him of his eye. Lastly, he had been 



46 

upon the ground and saw the ravages of the war. 'I know 
something of what this race question has cost this country. 
Many of you who write so flippantly about it know nothing 
about it,' he continued. 'And if you write about so grave a 
subject when you know nothing of it, you are no less than 
criminals. Mr. Roosevelt was very wise in saying it will 
take the best thought of both sections of this country to solve 
the problem.' 

"After an impassioned recital of the perils to the white 
population of the South threatened by the increase of the 
powers of the Negroes in the last few years, he said : 

" 'We are compelled by the exigencies of the situation to 
use the shotgun and the tissue ballots, and we used both. 
Why? Because in the State of South Carolina there were 
30,000 more Negro voters than there are white voters.' 

"He said that they in South Carolina had established their 
free school and that ever since there have been more Negro 
children in those free schools than white children. 

"A Burst of Passion. 

" 'Do you think it was our purpose to raise these Negro 
children to a condition of enlightenment in order that tney 
may govern us?' he asked. 'By the Holy God, No!' he cried. 

" 'Three months ago,' he continued, 'the president wrote 
a letter in which he said that when a Negro showed himself 
qualified to hold public office he was unwilling to shut the 
door of hope in his face.' 

"Commenting on this, Senator Tillman said that if the 
present condition of education continues and the Negro is to 
gain control of the State of South Carolina and the whites 
become subordinate, the deplorable result would be that in 
a hundred years the population would be half mulatto. He 
had no practicable solution of the problem, he said, unless 
it be that the North take its share of the blacks, 'if you love 
them so well.' 

"His address grew more impassioned as he continued. 
At first only applause greeted his utterances, but toward the 
end an occasional hiss was heard, and finally he was inter- 
rupted by a voice crying: 'What about your nephew?' 

"Tillman Talks of Bloodshed. 

"Senator Tillman was at the moment defending the sum- 
mary measure adopted in the South for the punishment of 
Negroes guilty of crime, especially against women. After 
the excitement caused by the interruption had subsided, Mr. 



47 

Tillman said there was much more he could say and would 
like to say, but that he regarded it as highly inappropriate 
to refer in public to family affairs. 

"Before concluding his address he. took occasion to assert 
that if the policy of raising the Negro into power in the 
South is carried too far the result will be bloodshed, and 
its flow will be upon the heads of those who have tried to 
force the white population into subjection to the black. 

"This was not a threat, he said, but simply a statement 
of what he knew from his personal acquaintance with the 
conditions in the South would be the inevitable result." 

(From the Houston Chronicle, March 6, 1903.) 

"New York, March 6. — The attitude assumed by President 
Roosevelt toward the Negro has been indorsed in a rousing 
mass meeting of colored people, held in the Bethel Methodist 
Episcopal Church in this city, at which Bishop W. B. Der- 
rick of the First Methodist Episcopal District made a stir- 
ring appeal to his people to turn their eyes to the door of 
hope opened by the president to the black race. 

"The mention of the name of the president by the speaker 
drew forth tremendous applause from both men and women. 
The bishop indulged in a bitter denunciation of Senator Till- 
man of South Carolina. 

"The meeting constituted the first step toward the forma- 
tion of the 'Roosevelt Invincibles,' which organization will 
favor the renomination of President Roosevelt. 

"Bishop Derrick will speak in Philadelphia on a similar 
mission, and will address the colored men in many of the 
principal cities and organize them into local 'Roosevelt In- 
vincibles,' who will use every effort toward placing the col- 
ored men as delegates in the next national convention. 

"On the platform at the meeting was James H. Hayes of 
Virginia. 

"During his speech, Bishop Derrick spoke of the appoint- 
ment of colored men to office by Grover Cleveland and other 
presidents, but said that, whereas these presidents appointed 
Negroes, Roosevelt appointed men. 

" 'Color is nothing,' said the speaker, 'however much some 
white men would harp on it. Why, there are colored men 
whom I would not allow in my kitchen, much less in my din- 
ing room. Yes, and there are white men whom I would not 
allow in my kitchen, either.' 

"At the close of his speech the bishop offered the following 
resolutions, which were adopted amid cheers: 

" 'Resolved, That in his excellency, the president, the Hon- 
orable Theodore Roosevelt, the liberty of the world has a 



48 

most fervent defender, civilization a gallant representative, 
humanity a generous protector, the American nation a type 
of civil valor and heroic self-denial which ought to charac- 
terize the first magistrate of a republic. 

" 'Resolved, That we recognize that the great unfinished 
task of Lincoln, fallen into his hands, will be properly and 
successfully accomplished for the happiness and prosperity 
of the nation. 

" 'Resolved, That we pledge ourselves from this time 
henceforth to use our influence for his nomination and elec- 
tion to the presidency in 1904. 

" 'Resolved, That we form ourselves into an association, 
to be known as "Roosevelt Invincibles," recommending sim- 
ilar organizations to be formed throughout the country.' ' 

I don't know Mr. Jas. H. Hayes, unless he is the hero that 
knocked down Czolgosz to prevent him from shooting Presi- 
dent McKinley. 

(From the Kansas City Star, March 11, 1903.) 

"President Roosevelt's name is identified with the policy 
of publicity as applied to the affairs of the corporations, 
just as Blaine's was identified with the policy of reciprocity 
and McKinley's with that of the protective tariff. It is a 
great thing for a statesman to attach his name to some dis- 
tinctive governmental policy, especially if that policy relates 
to one of the questions of immediate interest and importance 
to the people of the country. Mr. Roosevelt did not dis- 
cover publicity, but he has the credit of having adopted it 
as a remedy for most of the evils that attach to the trusts, 
and as having been able to have it actually enacted into law. 

"But sometimes a statesman who is eager and able to ap- 
ply a policy to others is unwilling to apply it to his own af- 
fairs. It is, therefore, of interest to knpw that President 
Roosevelt's rule in the conduct of the White House business 
is the rule of publicity. 

"No other president, it is safe to say, has ever transacted 
business so much in the open. By this we do not mean that 
there is any unwise exposure of executive policy before the 
time is ripe for publication. Mr. Roosevelt is not contin- 
ually rushing into print. He never says in haste what he 
intends to do, to repent in leisure after he has discovered 
that what he promised was unwise. For a man who has 
the reputation of being impetuous and even erratic, Mr. 
Roosevelt has in fact developed in office a rare conserva- 
tism of executive speech and action. 

"But no one has visited the White House during the time 
he has been president, without being impressed with the 



49 

wholesome air of publicity that pervades the place. No one 
is seen there putting his hand to the side of his mouth and 
whispering in the ear of another that no one else may possi- 
bly hear. There is no doing of business in a corner or in 
the dark. Whatever the president chooses to say he says 
right out loud, so that all who care to do so may hear, and 
often, indeed, he speaks so strenuously that one cannot help 
hearing. This may sometimes be embarrassing to others, 
but it is a safeguard for himself, and guarantee, so far as he 
is concerned, that the business in hand is to be conducted 
without suspicious mystery. 

"There is a frankness and openness about all that the 
president does that is a proof of his sincerity and honesty. 
He may be brusque at times, but it is brusqueness without a 
string. There is something refreshing and healthy in the 
way in which he goes through the exacting routine of the 
White House business. His visitors are sometimes star- 
tled by the frankness with which he may. announce his de- 
cision in some important matter in their presence, and it is 
a sure proof of his ability to read the character of those 
who call upon him, that the confidence he places in their 
discretion is so seldom abused. 

"The men who don't like this kind of thing are the politi- 
cians who delight to pull secret wires and surround all they 
do with an impenetrable veil of mystery. Mr. Roosevelt's way 
of doing business is a wholesome example for business men 
everywhere and of every class." 

The great hatred against the Negro and color prejudice 
must cease because God is with the Negro. The Negro 
prays and God hears his prayers. 

The Negro has passed his darkest days and his hardest 
trials. We cannot rely upon the supreme judge at all times 
for our legal rights, but we can depend upon the Great Crea- 
tor to right all wrongs against our race. From the fact that 
the white man who does the most to down the Negro, is less 
prosperous; the white man who is most prejudiced toward 
the Negro generally has the worst luck ; the white man who 
never loses an opportunity to join a lynching party, as a 
rule, has most deaths in his own family ; the white man who 
cannot make a speech without dogging the Negro will never 
be a great man, neither influential. I have my doubts as 
to whether such a man can get to heaven, from the fact that 
none shall see God but the pure in heart. A hellish heart 
cannot be pure. This will cause a great many white people 
to be ineligible for heaven, from the lack of pure hearts. 



50 



INJUSTICE DONE OUR RACE. 

The injustice to our race and their mistake: 

I will now turn my attention to the many injustices done 
our race in America, and also the records of lynchings, etc. 

I chanced to be in Galveston a few Sundays ago and I 
heard the secretary of the Y. M. C. A. say he, himself, saw 
some mounted policemen driving some colored women to 
jail like cattle. 

This is indeed very bad for any civilized city in America. 

This the Negro must not stand for. He must fight by 
strong protest. 

In Houston, Texas, we have a good policeman as chief, but 
all are not good. 

I preach good morals; I teach good morals, and lecture 
good morals. But city, State and national governments 
combined cannot legislate good morals ; it must come along 
a more sacred line than natural force. If it is not reached 
at the fireside it must be reached in some other kind and 
tender way. 

You cannot force a man to be a gentleman, neither can 
you force a man to be a Christian. No decent man should 
have any business in company with a debased woman. But 
you may run this bad class of women out of town tomor- 
row, and there are certain classes of men who would attempt 
to make debased women of our best girls. There are a very 
few who hold out to the word, "no," without a run being 
made upon them by these low-down fellows. 

I am sorry for the man who wants a good wife of today 
and goes out into society thinking he has no great task. 
Good wives and mothers, in a large degree, must now be 
raised, and the best time to raise a good girl is to start on 
the girl's mother twenty years before she is born. Good 
girls must come from good mothers, that is my point. 



CHAPTER V. 

MISTREATMENT OF THE NEGRO. 

I show the readers an article from the Houston Post, 
November 23, 1912, where seven white men killed one old 
Negro — the father and six sons, This must have been one 
of those fathers who talk Negro-killing at the fireside. He 



51 

has been made to feel it is a little thing. No condemnation 
for killing a Negro, before Texas laws and juries, so he and 
his sons think : 



"Joe Fulton and His Offsprings Released on Bond, Charged 

With Killing Negro. 

"Franklin, Texas, Nov. 22. — Joe Fulton, a prosperous 
farmer, living about six miles south of this place, and six 
sons were arrested and placed in the county jail Thursday, 
charged with killing Dave Foster, an old negro, living near 
their place. 

"At an examining trial held before Justice of the Peace 
John Cox, Fulton was allowed bail in the sum of $3,000, one 
of the sons was held in the sum of $1,000 and the other five 
in the sums of $200 each, for their appearance before the 
grand jury in January. 

"All parties made bond and have been released." 

The article in the editorial column of the Houston Press 
of November 13, 1912, comes before me so forcibly I now 
reproduce the article. It is too good to be thrown away. 
No man knows what a little fellow is going to be. He may 
be president or he may be a train robber or mob leader. 
Does training shape their lives? If so the mothers ought to 
get busy and try to turn out good citizens, not criminals : 

"The men and women who will be the criminals of twenty- 
five years from now are, today, sweet-faced children. 

"The man who, twenty-five years from now, will, some- 
where in this world, commit the crime that will set humanity 
aghast with horror, is today a fine, lovable boy. 

"The girls who will be 'walking the streets' — yes, only ten 
years from now — are today as sweet and pure and as full 
of love and kindness as God's own angels. 

"The man who, a quarter of a century from now, will be 
at the head of a great, pitiless business, mercilessly trans- 
forming the life-blood of women and children into gold — 
which he puts onto the backs of his wife and daughters — 
is today a fine, manly little fellow, who believes all that his 
mother tells him about the value of kindness and gentleness. 

"Innocence is in the hearts of children ; love speaks from 
baby eyes and God's truths from baby lips. 

"And so then, here they are — these criminals-to-be — 
among the children all about us, fighting as best they know 
against God knows how many odds, to keep their price- 
less goodness. 

"This world already has too many bloodhounds ; too many 



52 

Sherlock Holmeses ; too many policemen, to catch the crimi- 
nal after he has committed his crime. 

"Now, you have the point. Catch him BEFORE he's com- 
mitted his crime. Find a loving Sherlock Holmes, you sug- 
gest, who can go among the children and track down the 
criminals-to-be and thus permit us to save them — the sweet 
little children! 

"It's a fine idea. But how save them? 

"Our children today, in the great factory districts like 
Lawrence and other centers of great poverty and oppression, 
are crying for help. If you have the right kind of ears you 
can hear them. 

"These children are sinking into criminality. 

"What does the world do? With its cruel right hand, rep- 
resenting greed and oppression, it thrusts them into the 
stream. Now and then, with its diamond-bedecked left 
hand, representing, for instance, the wishy-washy charita- 
ble societies that such men as J. Pierpont Morgan and John 
D. Rockefeller give their money to, it extends a gracefully 
curved little finger, with a make-believe help that makes 
the drowning all the more terrible. 

"We know where the criminal-to-be can be found among 
the children, but we're too selfish to save them; we think 
it is cheaper to put them in jail after they have become 
criminals." 

I indorse this article, but must confess, however, that I 
know nothing discreditable to Mr. J. D. Rockefeller, there- 
fore I cannot indorse that part of it. 

Lynching. 

I wish to go back to April, 1903, and record a lynching 
in Joplin, Mo. 

The write-up appeared in the Kansas City Times and Star 
April 16, 1903. 

I doubt very much if any of these uncivilized, malignant 
ruffians are living now. There is no good-luck for a black- 
hearted mob. However, mobs very seldom appear where 
the officers don't want them to. or will not allow them to take 
a prisoner. 

The mob turned another Negro loose who was charged 
with assaulting another Negro, and not a white man. They 
did not have any proof that the man lynched was the right 
man who killed the officer: 



53 

Lynching No. 1. 

(Kansas City Star.) 

"Joplin, Mo., April 15. — An infuriated mob took an un- 
known tramp Negro from the city jail this evening and 
hanged him to a telegraph pole at the corner of Second and 
Wall Streets, two blocks from the jail. The Negro was 
charged with having murdered Police Officer C. Leslie, who 
was shot dead last night in the Kansas City Southern Rail- 
road yards, while endeavoring to arrest several Negroes sus- 
pected of theft. 

"Orficer Leslie had ordered several Negroes, who had 
taken refuge in a boxcar, to surrender, and when they failed 
to do so he fired several shots at the car. During the shooting 
a Negro slipped from the car and coming up behind the 
officer, shot him through the head. The Negro then fled, 
and within a short time posses were after him. 

"Found in a Slaughterhouse. 

"About 3 o'clock this afternoon Lee Fullerton found the 
fugitive in a slaughterhouse just east of Joplin. The Negro 
was armed with a rifle and defied arrest. Fullerton slipped 
into the structure unobserved and crept up behind the Ne- 
gro. Suddenly he sprang at the unsuspecting fugitive, and 
before resistance could be made, he had the Negro on his 
back with a knife at his throat. The Negro then surren- 
dered his rifle, and pointing the weapon at him, Fullerton 
marched him out of the building. 

"With the assistance of another man the Negro was 
brought to Joplin and placed in jail. News of the capture 
spread rapidly and the jail was speedily surrounded by hun- 
dreds of people. There were cries of 'lynch him' on all 
sides. The city attorney, P. S. Decker, mounted the jail 
steps and made a strong plea in behalf of law and order. 
This served to temporarily stay the mob, but it did not ap- 
pease it and a short time after Decker's speech the mob 
started to batter in a section of the jail wall. 

"Battered Down the Door. 

."Every effort was made to prevent the entrance of the 
mob, but without avail, and within fifteen minutes the in- 
furiated men had gained entrance to the jail and secured 
the trembling Negro. As he was dragged forth City At- 
torney Decker again interfered and urged that the Negro 
be given a fair trial. For half an hour he talked, the mob lis- 



tened to him with the Negro in their custody. At one time 
it seemed that the city attorney would win, as members of 
the mob began dispersing. 

"Suddenly a rush was made for the spot where the Negro 
was being held, and he was dragged two blocks from the 
jail, a rope fastened around his neck and, after the rope 
had been thrown over the cross-bar of a telegraph pole, a 
score of men attempted to pull the Negro from the ground. 
Many more seized the Negro and pulled to prevent him being 
hanged. For some moments it was a veritable tug of war, 
but reinforcements on the free end of the rope proved the 
stronger, and the Negro, despite his protestations of inno- 
cence, was finally swung into the air and strangled to death, 
while shouts of satisfaction went up from the mob. 

"As soon as the Negro was dead the mob dispersed. La- 
ter the body was cut down and taken in charge by the cor- 
oner. There is still great excitement in Joplin, and it is 
feared more trouble will follow in case the associates of the 
Negro are caught. 

"The lynching of the Negro served only to satisfy tem- 
porarily the indignation of the mob. Later tonight hun- 
dreds of men again assembled and rioted through the Ne- 
gro section of the city, burning houses, stoning Negroes and 
finally driving every Negro out of Joplin. The police were 
powerless. 

"The first act of the mob, after hanging the Negro, was 
to demand the release from jail of a local character known 
as 'Hickory Bill,' who was under arrest on the charge of 
assaulting a Negro. In the hope that this would appease 
the mob, the prisoner was set free. 

"The Mob Burned Houses. 

"But the mob did not disperse. Instead, a rush was made 
through Main Street, the principal street of Joplin, and 
every Negro was frightened off the street and fled to the 
north part of the city, where the colored population lives. 
In this way the Negroes were driven from all parts of the 
city to the Negro section. Then the mob charged down on 
the section. Stones were thrown, doors and windows of 
Negro houses were broken in and finally several were fired. 
The fire department responded, but many of the houses 
were burned to the ground. The mob made endeavors to 
prevent the fire department from extinguishing the flames. 

"All the officers of the city, township and county were 
called out, but the mob swept them aside and proceeded 
with the rioting. Mayor Trigg ran from corner to corner, 



00 



and mounting boxes, made earnest appeals to the mob to 
cease, but, although it cheered the mayor vociferously, the 
mob swept on and the depredations continued. The saloons 
were hurriedly closed by the mayor. 

"After the hundreds of frenzied men composing the mob 
had vented their wrath in the north end of the city they 
rushed to the southern end, where a number of Negroes 
lived. Their houses were vacant and not a Negro could be 
found. Three more houses were fired. 

"All efforts to reason with the rioters were futile, as ap- 
parently a frenzy had seized upon them. The streets were 
thronged and at 11:15 the whole city was in an uproar. 
So far as known at that hour no fatalities had occurred, 
although many persons had received minor injuries." 

(Editorial in Kansas City Star, April 16, 1903.) 
"THE JOPLIN MOB AND OTHERS. 

"The lynching of a Negro at Joplin last night because he 
was suspected of having killed a police officer was, unfor- 
tunately, a not uncommon crime. Such exhibitions of mob 
fury have become so frequent that they are a source of deep 
humiliation and discouragement to good citizens. But it 
will go on and on so long as public sentiment is merely ag- 
grieved, and not aroused to action. It will be continued un- 
til there are more rigid laws and a better enforcement of 
them; until the rule of a life for a life shall be applied to 
mob murderers as well as to other slayers. 

"But the Joplin mob made a particularly degrading 
exhibition of itself. Not satisfied with taking the life 
of a man who was merely suspected of a crime, it drove all 
the members of his race from the town and fired many of 
their houses. This was pure wantonness — the display of 
an insane desire to destroy. It was a good illustration of 
the brutalizing effects of mob indulgence. Doubtless .none 
of this gang of murderers intended to make a war on the 
rest of the Negro population when the jail was broken down 
and the unknown black man was taken out and hanged. 
But the rabble became more instead of less furious through 
its own violence. They surged through the streets, driving 
all the Negroes to their homes, then went to the black quar- 
ters and drove whole families — innocent, law-abiding men, 
women and children — from their dwellings and destroyed 
their houses and their household effects. The result of this 
raid is that many of these poor people are left without shel- 
ter today. Such an outrageous act as this ought to call spe- 



56 

cia) attention in this State to the necessity of making mu- 
nicipalities and counties responsible for the life and prop- 
erty losses sustained through mob depredations. 

"Public sentiment in this State does not sanction mob 
violence, whether it be lynching or burning of property. 
It is time that the better sentiment should be directed espe- 
cially to the matter of peace officers. It should become a 
positive issue in the election or the appointment of these 
officers that they are expected to hold mobs in check by firing 
on them, if necessary. There are courageous men who 
would fulfill their trust, if placed on guard wfth this under- 
standing. But 90 per cent of the danger of mob violence 
would be overcome by the mere declaration of a drastic pol- 
icy. The most wholesome lesson this country could have 
would be the shooting down of a dozen mob leaders." 

NEGRO HIGHWAYMEN. 

This Negro, who is now safe behind the bars in the Har- 
ris County jail, was on his way to Judge Lynch's court. He 
operated in some other town than Houston. He was 
caught by a Negro, which all law-abiding Negroes must ap- 
prove of the act. See the Houston Post, December 1, 1912. 
Yes, the Negro must help run down criminals. 

"After he had snatched a pocketbook from a white woman 
near the foot of Rusk Avenue Saturday night, Lee Ander- 
son, alias Jim Givens, a Negro, was chased for almost a mile 
by Will Preston, another Negro, and finally caught in a liv- 
ery stable on Preston Avenue. 

"When Preston heard the woman scream and saw the 
Negro dash by him with a pocketbook in his hand he im- 
mediately gave chase. Anderson ran for the bayou, crossed 
on the rock dam near the city power plant, and there eluded 
his pursuer. He came back into sight almost a half block 
away on Cushman Street, but Preston was waiting for him, 
and immediately took up the chase. 

"Anderson ran to Preston Avenue and turned in at a liv- 
ery stable. The building was closed in all around, and there 
was no rear exit. His capture and removal to police head- 
quarters followed." 

CRIMINALS. 

We. may expect criminals of this kind as long as we have 
preparatory schools for criminals. These schools are the 
Negro clubs, where men and women can get bad whiskey 
every day in the week, Sunday not excepted. The Negro 



57 

club room of today is one of the main roads to the State pen- 
itentiary, and I see little effort on the part of the Negro 
pulpit "to block this road. The 1908 Charity Club 
started a crusade against them and put some preachers 
on their program to condemn them, but the preachers failed 
to show up, from the fact they were not prepared from their 
conduct to throw the first stone. 

The moving picture shows are just a little better than the 
clubs, and no lady should attend a moving picture show. 

THE VULGAR SONG. 

The vulgar songs are unfit for decent homes. For example, 
they sing "Everybody's Doin' It." I don't know what it ' 
means, but to look at it off-hand, it contradicts the virtuous 
woman; it lies on the young woman who is determined to 
be a lady or die ! 

This is a bad thing to have the unborn to believe; if so 
they will shape their conduct the same. 

If the young women who are trained rightly can be made 
to accept this song as a fact, they are likely to accept its 
meaning as a modern custom and do likewise. 

All society homes are not Christian homes. I appeal to 
the society homes to stop this song in your homes. It is the 
main road to the red light districts for your girls. 

Georgia Mob, 1912. 

GEORGIA MOB. 

A Georgia mob killed a Negro who was accused of shoot- 
ing two white women. The crime is bad enough, but I see no 
proof that the mob got the right Negro. It was said that 
a Negro did it, and all Negroes look alike. See the Houston 
Chronicle, November 30, 1912: 

Lynching No. 2. 

"Cordele, Ga., Nov. 30. — Chestley Williams, the Negro 
who shot two white women near Rhine and assaulted one of 
them, was dragged from the court house at McRae early to- 
day by a mob and riddled with bullets. 

"The lynching was quiet and the town is now orderly. 

"Neither of the victims is dead, but one is not expected 
to live. 

"Williams was taken to McRae shortly after midnight 
last night to evade a mob which chased Sheriff Wilcox and 
his prisoner in automobiles. The sheriff attempted to out- 




Georgia Mob, 1912 



59 

wit his pursuers by placing the Negro in the vault of the 
county clerk's office in the court house instead of taking him 
to jail, but the ruse proved unsuccessful. 

"The Negro was accused of entering the home of a prom- 
inent farmer near Rhine yesterday in the absence of the 
male members of the family. The farmer's wife was shot 
and his 18-year-old daughter assaulted. The crimes were 
discovered when the farmer returned home and a man hunt 
was organized. Friends of the Negro Williams are said to 
have revealed his hiding place to the sheriff." 

I never am to believe a mob can take a prisoner away 
from a sheriff and his deputies unless they want to give the 
prisoner up. This Negro might have been guilty, but his 
guilt had not been proven. If the sheriff had given this 
Negro two 45's and let the leader of the mob know what the 
Negro had, there would have been no lynching in Georgia. 
Taking this Negro in the court house was only a stall by 
the sheriff. The Georgia mob knew him, and knew there 
was no harm in him that they need fear. Some of these 
sheriffs are only forerunners for mobs. 

The law makers of the various States, that believe in civ- 
ilization, must turn their attention to the county sheriffs 
and their duty, oath and obligation to the Commonwealth, 
to man and God. 

The Louisiana Mob — Lynching No. 3. 

(From the Houston Press, November 29, 1912.) 
"NEGROES LYNCHED BY FURIOUS MOB. 

"Shreveport, La., Nov. 29.— Mood Burke, Jim Hurd and 
Silas Jimmerson. three Negroes who made an almost fatal 
assault on Deputy Sheriff Edwards of Bossier Parish sev- 
eral weeks ago, were taken from three deputies last night 
and lynched in a swamp a short distance from Benton." 

These Negroes were accused of assaulting a deputy. I 
don't see where they were armed. No doubt this deputy 
was beating them over the head with his gun, if they are 
really guilty. 

The readers will note this lynching happened not far from 
the place where the so-called late "Prophet F. K. Smith" 
was lynched with two of his members about ten years ago. 
Some one of the Church of God members killed a big rich 
planter about slapping his wife, and the result was that a 
well organized mob lynched every Negro they could catch 
who was a member of this co-called Church of God band, ex- 
cept the women, but beat them. Strange to say F. K. 




Louisiana Mob, 1912 



61 

Smith's gang was from Texas. We were glad to have them 
go to Louisiana, not on account of the crime committed, but 
they were undesirable citizens and not good enough for 
Texas, and possibly no other State in the Union. 

Prophet F. K. Smith had a large membership, possibly 
about 400 members. He one day prophesied that Houston 
and Galveston would be destroyed by water, and in the 
meantime slipped out to Louisiana and sold his members 
to a big planter for $1.00 per head. His members were 
all ignorant. His prophecy was since the 1900 Galveston 
storm. It has not come to pass yet. 

Shreveport, La., Mob. 

I shall not number this lynching, from the fact that it 
occurred in 1903, and my mission is to record only six- 
month lynchings, from November, 1912, to June, 1913. But, 
however, I reproduce this lynching to show how often in- 
nocent Negroes are lynched on mere circumstances. This 
Negro had been working at a butcher shop, which accounts 
for blood on his clothes. This case, in my judgment, is al- 
most like the Monk Gibson case. 

We must call upon God to avenge the innocent Negro 
blood. The Negro should set a national day to do this. We 
are unable to fight our cause, and He promised to fight our 
battle, and I believe His word. It has been nine years ago. 
I doubt if any of these lynchers are living now. God don't 
intend for lynchers to live very long. Louisiana is a dan- 
gerous State, especially North Louisiana. It is a Negro-kill- 
ing State; this record proves it without question. If Mr. 
Andrew Carnegie would spend some of his millions in this 
lynch district for missionary and educational work, possi- 
bly he might be able to culture and Christianize this uncivil- 
ized class of whites. 
(From the New Orleans, La., Picayune, April 15, 1903.) 

"Shreveport, La., April 14.— The impression prevails to- 
night that the wrong Negro was shot on Saturday, when 
Sergeants Gerald and Roquemore killed the supposed mur- 
derer of Mrs. Frank Matthews. All of the circumstances 
pointed to the guilt of the Negro, but it is currently re- 
ported that he was the wrong man. The police stick to the 
theory that the Negro, whose body was cremated, really 
murdered Mrs. Matthews, and it is difficult to get at the 
facts of the matter. 

"Today particles of the clothing of the Negro were iden- 
tified as those of Albert Washington, a Negro employed on 
the Vance plantation, on Red River, about seven miles from 



62 

the city. Washington, it is stated, was at Willow Chute 
Landing, about nine miles from Shreveport, on Saturday 
morning at 7 o'clock. About 9 o'clock he took a freight 
train at the Vance place and came to Shreveport. It is also 
claimed that, after his arrival here, he was employed by a 
butcher named Houston to slaughter cows. If this should 
turn out to be the case, it would account for the blood on his 
clothing. 

"Houston could not be found tonight, but it is said that 
he told a number of persons that the Negro he employed was 
the man killed by the police. 

"Mr. Cal Vance, upon whose plantation the Negro worked, 
came to Shreveport today, and said that Albert Washington 
was a good Negro, and that he did not believe he committed 
the crime for which he was shot. It was within the bounds 
of possibility for the Negro to murder Mrs. Matthews and 
get back to W T illow Chute by 7 o'clock in the morning, but 
it is hardly probable that he did so. 

"The Negroes on the Vance and Stinson plantations, 
which adjoin each other, are reported to be greatly wrought 
up over the killing, and there was some talk tonight of the 
Negroes coming to Shreveport. This proved to be a mistake. 

"Senational developments in the murder of Mrs. Matthews 
are expected to crop out in the next few days. It has been as- 
certained that in all probability the murderer was actually 
seen by one of those fortuitous circumstances that often at- 
tend events of the most stirring nature, even a crime so aw- 
ful as that which shocked the city of Shreveport on the 
morning of Saturday last. Not only has a witness been 
found that may have seen the murderer as he fled from the 
scene of his bloody orgy, but the same witness has stated 
that he heard what the sleeping inmates of the Matthews 
household never heard — the scream of the woman who was 
so foully murdered. Mrs. Phillips, referred to, is the wit- 
ness. Mrs. Phillips is quoted as saying that about 3 o'clock 
in the morning of Saturday, which is about the hour Mrs. 
Matthews is judged to have been killed, she was up with a 
sick child, and heard a scream in the direction of the Mat- 
thews home. She went to the window and saw a man come 
out of the rear of the Matthews residence and button up his 
coat, turning up his collar and then run out the back way 
and out of the alley. It is said Mrs. Phillips stated that she 
thought at the time the man was Porter Matthews, and that 
he was going for a physician, thinking some one was ill at 
the Matthews home. 

"Dr. Schumpert stated today that little Aline Matthews 
was greatly improved, and when asked about her ultimate 



63 

recovery, he said that it began to look now as if the little 
sufferer would survive her terrible injuries. Dr. Schum- 
pert, however, is apprehensive of the condition her mind 
will be in, even if she recovers her bodily health otherwise. 
He said that as yet the little girl had made no statement rel- 
ative to the tragedy, but said that she might probably be far 
enough recovered to make some sort of statement tomorrow. 
It was ascertained also from the doctor that efforts have 
been made, in as general a way as possible, to get some in- 
formation from her that would throw light on the tragedy, 
but that she will not answer questions as to how she got 
hurt. 

"It is reported tonight that the police have a white man 
under surveillance at Noble, La., on suspicion of being con- 
nected with the killing of Mrs. Matthews. The police will 
neither affirm nor deny this statement, but they continue to 
assert that the right Negro was killed on Saturday. Two 
meetings of the Negroes were held here last night, but it is 
not thought any race war will grow out of the tragedy of 
Saturday morning. Everything is quiet in Shreveport to- 
night, and bids fair to remain so." 

This poor colored man was shot down by peace officers, 
who did not try to take him alive, and his body burned. His 
record from a white citizen was good. The colored people 
spoke well of him, saying that he was a Christian. It is a 
dangerous thing to kill one of God's professed Christians. 

Governor Cole L. Blease of South Carolina is in favor of 
mob violence. He has said to the mossback mob leader : 
"I will turn you loose when charged with lynching a Negro 
who is accused of assault on a white woman." This gov- 
ernor no doubt promised at some time to uphold the laws 
and constitution of the State when he took the oath of office. 
He promised to uphold the peace and dignity of the State. 
If he cannot live up to the laws of the State, he being the ex- 
ecutive head, it would hardly be fair to force others to obey 
any of the laws of the State. He has placed himself on 
record as saying that all Negroes are guilty without a trial. 
The mob ring of South Carolina knows now the governor's 
position regarding mob violence. If South Carolina has any 
sheriffs who are opposed to mob violence they have no as- 
sistance from the governor, therefore they can do nothing. 
But God will raise up a man to take his place. He is a citi- 
zen of South Carolina. Is he a great man? Is he the ideal 
of citizenship of South Carolina? Can civilization prize 
such a man? Can society, law and order prize such a man? 
Heaven will not. God will not! 



64 

See the article from the Houston Post, December 4, 1912, 
A Conference of Governors at Richmond, Va. : 

"Richmond, Va., Dec. 3. — Governor Cole Li. Blease of 
South Carolina served notice to the fifth annual conference 
of governors, which opened here today, that lynchers of Ne- 
gro assailants of white women would go unpunished in his 
State. 

" 'I have said all over the State of South Carolina, and I 
say it again now,' he declared, 'that I will never order out 
the militia to shoot down their neighbors and protect a 
black brute who commits the nameless crime against a 
white woman. 

" 'Therefore, in South Carolina, let it be understood that 
when a Negro assaults a white woman, all that is needed is 
that they get the right man, and they who get him will never 
stand trial.' 

"The address was the most remarkable of a day devoted 
to the consideration of crime and its punishment. 

"Defended His Pardon Record. 

"Governor Blease, in his address, after promising im- 
munity to lynchers, warmly defended his use of the pardon- 
ing power, declaring that in the twenty-two months he had 
pardoned or paroled approximately 400 persons, and that he 
hoped the number at the end of the second term would 
be 800. 

" 'I walked through the penitentiary of South Carolina,' 
he said in defending his use of the pardoning power, 'and 
found it a tuberculosis incubator, where poor devils were 
dying at their tasks, making money for other people; poor 
devils who had no choice but to stand and work or take the 
lash. Just the other day, Jim Roberts, a Negro from 
Charleston, stopped me as I was walking through and re- 
spectfully asked permission to speak to me. He told me 
that he had been kept in jail for twenty-two years for steal- 
ing a $27 watch. 

"He Had No Folks. 

; 'I said, "if you are telling me the truth you will eat your 
Christmas dinner with your home folks." He said : "Gov- 
ernor, I have no folks." "Then," I replied, "you will eat it 
away from here." And he will. 

' 'Another Negro had served eleven years and seven 
months for stealing $9; a judge wrote to me that he had 
sentenced to death a man when he did not believe the man 



65 

had been convicted beyond a reasonable doubt. Another 
wrote that he sentenced to death a man whom he did not be- 
lieve should be put to death. He did not believe it at the 
time, nor does he believe it now. 

" 'These are the errors of justice I am trying- to right with 
my power to pardon. I am proud of my record.' 

I will not leave this matter, as the Houston Post of De- 
cember 5, 1912, had such an able article, and I cannot close 
this subject without letting the readers have the benefit of 
such an able article from such an able paper. I didn't know 
the Post was going to write on it. However, I knew the 
Post's position on the mob violence question. If the Post 
was to favor mob violence, there would be a wholesale mob- 
bing of innocent Negroes, from the fact of its large circu- 
lation and its very great influence nationally. I don't know 
what influence the governor has, if much. There will be 
placed at his door a very large graveyard of lynched Ne- 
groes, on account of his encouragement of mob violence in 
his State. But the United States will be affected where they 
like good citizenship. See the Post of December 5, 1912 : 

"AN UPHOLDER OF MOB LAW. 

"Governor Blease of South Carolina will find that he has 
brought his State into unenviable repute by his approval of 
lynch law before so distinguished a gathering as the Gov- 
ernors' Conference. It would have been far better had he 
remained silent. We fancy the intelligent and law-abiding 
people of South Carolina will not relish their governor pa- 
rading them before the world as anarchists. 

"What do the laws of South Carolina amount to if indi- 
viduals can wreak their vengeance upon men charged with 
crime? Where is the guarantee of protection to life and 
property? The constitution of South Carolina guarantees 
to every man charged with crime a fair trial and South 
Carolina has courts to determine the guilt or innocence of 
those accused of crime. Yet, Blease tells the world that 
when an angry mob executes a victim and spits upon the 
constitution and laws of the State that outraged justice 
will not be permitted to resent it. 

"He merely wants the mob to get the right man. How 
many times does the mob get the wrong man? Nobody 
knows, but there have been scores of Negroes executed upon 
suspicion, and no doubt many innocent victims have been 
executed. When an innocent Negro is executed, the guilty 
man is rarely apprehended. That shows the folly of mob 
law. It frequently baffles justice in that way. 



66 

"The governor of South Carolina has probably failed to 
notice that the majority of lynchings are for crimes other 
than assaults upon women. There are mob executions for 
minor crimes, and with Judge Lynch enthroned as Blease 
proposes there will be mob executions for the most trivial 
offenses. A State that winks at mob law is not going to be 
able to vindicate its dignity when the mob lynches a victim 
for a minor offense. If a mob is to be granted immunity for 
killing men in certain cases, it is going to enjoy immunity 
in all cases, because the spirit of the law is dead and courts 
of justice have become a mockery. 

"It is impossible to believe that Blease reflects the senti- 
ment of the people of South Carolina. He certainly doesn't 
reflect the sentiment of the South. Our executives, judges 
and peace officers have universally stood for law and order ; 
the pulpit and press have resolutely opposed mob vengeance, 
and civilized sentiment has been strong for orderly justice. 
Only the voice of Blease is raised in defense of mob law 
and its anarchy and brutality. 

"In the course of his speech Blease related a number of 
instances where justice had erred in the punishment of 
criminals, and he boasted that he was trying to right these 
errors by the use of the pardoning power. All well and 
good, but who is going to right the errors of the mob? 
Surely if the courts, through their calm and deliberate pro- 
cesses, commit errors occasionally and convict innocent men, 
the mob, fired by hatred and prejudice, will be sure to mur- 
der the innocent now and then, and when that happens the 
mistake is beyond recall and the hands of the mob are for- 
ever stained with murder. 

"Blease ought to be ashamed of himself for making such 
a speech." 

The South Carolina governor, again upholding lynching, 
in Richmond, Va., before the Governors' Conference, said: 
"To hell with the constitution of his State and the United 
States." 

Is he any better than Harry Orchard of the West, Hay- 
wood, Moyer and Pettibone of Idaho? 

Is he any better than the McNamara brothers? They did 
not kill anybody, but had it done. Right after his speech 
an Alabama mob took him at his word and lynched a Negro 
on last night, and got the wrong man. See his second speech 
in the Houston Post, December 6, 1912. 

Only four governors favor the South Carolina governor's 
mob spirit. 

See the Houston Post, December 7, 1912 : 

"Richmond, Va., Dec. 6. — The Governors' Conference 



67 

unanimously repudiated today the recent utterances of 
Governor Blease of South Carolina concerning the lynching 
of Negroes. By a vote of 14 to 4 it adopted a resolution 
declaring against mob violence and for the impartial en- 
forcement of the law. The four governors who opposed the 
resolution declared themselves as strongly indorsing its pur- 
port, but voted 'no' because they thought they had no right 
to reprimand a colleague. 

''Governor Blease, himself the target of the attack, hotly 
defended his convictions, snapped his fingers in the face of 
his colleagues, told them to 'go to it,' declaring that he cared 
not a whit what the conference said, thought, did or did 
not do, and announced that all the resolutions they might 
ever adopt would not keep him' from the governor's chair 
nor from a seat in the United States Senate in 1915 or 
earlier. 

"Four Unsigned Letters. 

"Four times within as many hours, he asserted, his life 
had been threatened because of his utterances, but this ap- 
pealed to him as little as did the resolution. All of the four 
threatening letters Governor Blease said he received were 
anonymous, one was mailed in Richmond, one in Washing- 
ton, the third in Louisville and the fourth in Pittsburg. The 
Washington writer told him he would pay the penalty if he 
ever came to that city. The Pittsburg writer said, 'you will 
be taken to account on sight for your words.' The Rich- 
ond and Louisville missives were not fit for publication. 

"Governor Blease was taken to task by a dozen governors. 
Governor Carey of Wyoming denounced him 'for claiming 
a monopoly for South Carolina, of the respect of the white 
man for women.' Governor Hadley of Missouri declared 
that the floor of the conference hall was not a 'clearing 
house for local and personal controversies.' " 

"Richmond, Va., Dec. 5. — Fully half of the fifty women in 
attendance at the Conference of Governors this afternoon 
hurriedly departed from the meeting when Governor Cole 
L. Blease, for the second tjme, defending the policy of lynch- 
ing Negroes guilty of criminal assault, shouted, 'To hell with 
the constitution.' 

"Governor Blease's declaration was made in response to 
a question asked by Governor Joseph N. Carey of Wyoming. 
Governor Carey desired to know if the South Carolina ex- 
ecutive had taken an oath to uphold the constitution and 
laws of his State, and if these laws did not protect Negroes 
as well as whites. 

" 'I will answer that question,' replied Governor Blease. 



68 

'When the constitution steps between me and the defense 
of the virtue of white women of my State, I will resign my 
commission, tear it up and throw it to the breezes. As I 
have said before, "To hell with the constitution." ' 

"Several Women Left Hall. 

"When several women present arose and left the hall, 
Governor Blease ceased speaking. Among the women who 
had made their exit were the wives and daughters of several 
governors attending the conference. 

"Governor A. W. Gilchrist of Florida took exception to 
Governor Blease's remarks. Rising to his feet, he declared : 
'The first thing that indicates a manly man or a womanly 
woman is thoughtful consideration for other people.' His 
remarks were greeted with cheers from the audience. 

"Referring to the lynch law doctrine, Governor John F. 
Shaf roth of Colorado said : 

" 'One mob can do more injury to society than twenty 
murderers, because lynching permeates the entire com- 
munity and produces anarchy. The influence of mob rule 
is most reprehensive. When laws are made it should 
be the duty of the governor to enforce them, whether 
he approves or not. When the law prescribes hanging for 
an offense, and a man is found guilty, he should be hanged, 
whether white or black, and there is no excuse for mob laws. 
I conceive it to be our duty as governors to declare for law 
and order.' 

"Governor Goldsboro of Maryland said he stood by the 
resolution because it was a matter of right. Governor Dix 
of New York thought it would be 'most unwise' not to adopt 
the resolution. 

"Governor O'Neal of Alabama, in a ringing speech, which 
was drowned time after time by applause, asserted his be- 
lief that the entire conference had been belittled by the 
South Carolinan's remarks and that it was the sworn duty 
of every executive to uphold the law and the enforcement 
of law. 

"Repeated His Remarks. 

"To those declarations Governor Blease declared that he 
had been quoted yesterday as saying 'to hell with the consti- 
tution,' and that what he said yesterday he repeated today, 
'to all the good governors here; to all the governors of all 
the States; to all the people of the United States.' Once 
when his voice was drowned in a storm of hisses, he turned 



69 

to the galleries and to his colleagues and said : 'What care 
1 for your hisses?' Then shaking his clenched fist he 
shouted: 'Hiss if you must; only snakes and geese hiss.' 

"Governor O'Neal unloosed the storm when he introduced 
the following resolution: 

" 'This Conference of Governors does not undertake to 
control the individual views of its members upon any ques- 
tions of law or administration ; it declares that this govern- 
ment is based upon the fundamental principle of law and 
order; that the constitution of each State imposes upon its 
chief executive the supreme duty of taking care of the laws 
faithfully enforced; that it advocates all proper methods 
for strengthening and simplifying our methods of civil and 
criminal procedure. 

" 'This conference protests against any disposition or ut- 
terances, by those entrusted with the execution of the law, 
in any of the States of this Union which tends or could be 
construed to encourage any justification of mob violence or 
interference with the orderly processes of the law.' 

"To this Governor Mann of Virginia objected and offered 
the following substitute, which was accepted and adopted: 

"Resolution as Adopted. 

" 'Resolved, That it is the sentiment of the Governors' 
Conference in session at Richmond, Va., today that the 
whole power of the several States should be used whenever 
necessary to protect persons accused of crime of every kind 
against the violence of mobs, and to provide for speedy, or- 
derly and impartial trials by courts of competent jurisdic- 
tion, to the end that the law for the protection of life and 
property be duly enforced and respected by all the people.' 

"Threatening Letters. 

" 'I hold in my hand,' said Governor Blease when he rose 
to defend himself today, 'the fourth letter threatening my 
life I have received this morning. It was addressed to me 
in the care of the governor of Virginia and was handed to 
me by some one I do not know.' 

" 'I know nothing of the letter, sir,' retorted Governor 
Mann of Virginia. 'I never heard of it before; I didn't re- 
ceive it; I know nothing of its contents.' 

" 'It doesn't matter,' continued Governor Blease. 'I 
speak nobody's opinion but my own. The newspaper head- 
lines have misrepresented me. When I spoke yesterday 
about the marriage of Jack Johnson in Chicago, I did not 



70 

say he would be lynched in South Carolina; I did say that 
the laws of my State forbade the marriage, and I did say 
that I did not know if the marriage had been performed in 
South Carolina, whether the laws protecting him would 
have been possible of enforcement or not. 

" 'Women Will Pray for Me.' 

" 'Now, what I want to say to you is this : I don't care 
one whit whether you adopt this resolution or not. You 
may expel me for all I care. On January 21 I will begin my 
second term as governor. On March 4, 1915, if God spares 
me, I will be sworn in as a member of the United States 
Senate. I snap my fingers at your resolutions, for all the 
resolutions and all the motions you may act upon will not 
avail to keep me out. 

"Long after many of you gentlemen here today are resting 
in the shades of private life, I will be reaping the rewards 
of public service. Long after you good governors are no 
longer governors, the white women of South Carolina will 
pray for me with their arms around their girls, and will 
arise from their knees to kiss their husbands and beg them 
to go to the ballot box and vote for Blease to protect them 
from their daily terror.' 

"A faint round of applause went over the conference 
hall, succeeded by a storm of hisses. 

"A dozen governors thinking the South Carolinan had 
concluded, clamored for recognition, but he held the floor 
and smiled at the turmoil. 

"When the vigorous rapping of the chairman had brought 
order, he continued : 

Ridiculed His Hearers. 

'You're making yourselvs ridiculous in the eyes of the 
nation. Why do you have to declare against mob law? 
They ought to know you back in your homes. They ought 
to meet you each one at the railroad station with a brass 
band and say: "Governor, we are glad you didn't indorse 
the utterances of that South Carolinan." 

'When I said I never would order out the militia to pro- 
tect the black brute who laid his desecrating hand upon a 
white woman, I spoke the truth. I say it now again. That 
is my position, gentlemen, and if you don't agree with me, 
in the words of the great Virginian, "go to it." ' 

"The four governors who voted against the resolution 
declared emphatically that they opposed mob violence. They 



71 

voted in the negative, they said, because they thought they 
.vould exceed the rights of the conference and violate the 
courtesy due a colleague should they vote to reprimand him. 
On the final ballot Governor Blease did not vote. After the 
result had been announced he arose and said : 

" 'I did not vote, gentlemen, because it makes no differ- 
ence to me one way or the other what this conference thinks 
or does.' " 

Alabama Mob — Lynching No. 4. 

They lynched the wrong man. See illustration on an- 
other page. 

(From Houston Post, December 7, 1912.) 

"PLANTER'S MURDER AVENGED. 

"Negro Was Lynched by Mob at Butler, Alabama. 

"Mobile, Ala., Dec. 6. — Dangling from the limb of a tree 
the body of Azariah Curtis, a young Negro, was found Fri- 
day morning at Butler, Ala., as evidence that 'Judge 
Lynch' had avenged the murder of B. B. Bush, a planter, 
shot to death Monday. 

"The lynching followed a confession by Curtis who, with 
two other Negroes, had waylaid Mr. Bush and killed him, 
believing him to be one of two men whom they intended to 
rob. 

"Curtis was taken from jail by 200 men during the ab- 
sence of the sheriff." 

(From the St. Louis, Mo., Globe-Democrat, Dec. 6, 1912.) 
"Richmond, Va., Dec. 5. — Many women in attendance on 
the Governors' Conference today hurriedly left the hall when 
Governor Cole L. Blease of South Carolina, for the second 
time defending his doctrine of lynching Negroes guilty of 
criminal assault, shouted the words, 'To hell with the consti- 
tution.' 

"This sentiment was in response to a question by Gov- 
ernor Joseph N. Carey of Wyoming, who desired to know if 
Governor Blease had not taken an oath to uphold the con- 
stitution and laws of his State, and if these laws did not pro- 
tect Negroes as well as white men. 

" 'I will answer that question,' replied the South Carolinan, 
'and I hope the newspaper men will get it right, for in my 
campaign in South Carolina they found that I was a fighter 
— and a cold-blooded fighter. When the constitution steps 
between me and the defense of the virtue of the white women 



72 

of my State I will resign my commission, and tear it up and 
throw it to the breezes. I have heretofore said, "To hell 
with the constitution." ' 

"When women, some of them wives and daughters of gov- 
ernors, left the hall on hearing this, Governor Blease sub- 
sided. 

"Governor Albert W. Gilchrist of Florida answered Gov- 
ernor Blease. 

" 'The first thing,' he said, 'that indicates a manly man 
or a womanly woman is thoughtful consideration for other 
people.' 

"Later Governor John F. Shafroth of Colorado referred 
to the lynch law doctrine. 

" 'One mob can do more injury to society,' he said, 'than 
twenty murders, because a lynching permeates the entire 
community and produces anarchy. When laws are made it 
should be the duty of a governor to enforce them, whether 
he approves them or not. ; 

"Governor W. W. Kitchin of North Carolina said the sen- 
timent for standing by the laws daily gains strength. He 
believed there should be convictions in nearly every case 
when there is a lynching. Governor Mann of Virginia 
added that he would call out every soldier in the State if 
necessary to protect a man under arrest and give him a fair 
trial." 

Note editorial regarding it, for this date. 

I shall soon bring the incident of the South Carolina gov- 
ernor to a close. However, it is the object of this book to 
show the great injustice done to the Negro all over America. 
The Houston Post of December 8 has such an able editorial 
on the incident that I am compelled to reproduce it. It 
shows the sentiment behind this great daily of Houston, 
Texas. This malignant governor has dragged down the con- 
stitution of his State; he has cursed civilization; he has 
jumped upon law and order with both feet, saying "I am 
all the power that exists in my State. It's my mission to 
set all the mobs free for lynching a Negro." He has dis- 
charged all the law makers, judges and sheriffs of his State, 
insofar as power to uphold and enforce the law. The jury 
may bring a verdict of guilty and the judge sentence the 
mob, but the governor says he will pardon them in advance. 
The mob has his word for it. 

Now, the question is, what does his word amount to? It 
amounted to nothing when he took the oath of office. He 
was not worthy to have kissed the Holy Bible on that day. 
See the Houston Post, December 8, 1912 : 



73 



THE CASE OF BLEASE. 



"Governor Blease of South Carolina no longer dwells in 
obscurity. He is known from ocean to ocean and from lakes 
to gulf, and few governors have gained so much unenviable 
notoriety in so short a time. Sitting in a conference of 
State executives, he has held the limelight throughout its 
sessions and has evoked the scorn and contempt of the in- 
telligent people of the country. No executive ever appeared 
to poorer advantage, and it is to be hoped that no Southern 
State will ever be represented again in such a conference 
by a man of his temperament and ideals. 

"We do not lose sight of the fact that Blease's conduct was 
a reflection upon the people of the South, although he repre- 
sented but one Southern State. The fact that a Southern 
governor would make such an exhibition of himself shames 
us all. The unfortunate State of South Carolina has been 
accustomed to Blease's antics for quite a while. The best 
people there have blushed for him on many occasions, but 
we suppose they have hoped he would not leave the State 
and proclaim his boorishness to the whole country. 

"Possibly, this latest exhibition of Bleaseism may prove 
a blessing in disguise to his constituents. They came very 
near defeating him this year. With this latest offense 
surely thousands will desert his standard and make it im- 
possible for him to realize his ambition to sit in the Senate 
of the United States. A Blease occupying a seat once held 
by a Calhoun, a Hayne, a McDuffie, a Hampton and a But- 
ler, would be a sight for gods and men. 

"There is no doubt that Blease deliberately perpetrated 
this affront to the Governors' Conference in the hope that 
it would appeal to the prejudice, racial and otherwise, of the 
voters of South Carolina. He was speaking in the historic 
city of Richmond, but he was speaking to his partisans in 
South Carolina in the hope that he might keep alive the 
frenzy that impelled a narrow majority of them to re-elect 
him governor. 

"His assumption of a superior regard for the virtue of 
the white women of the South was insulting to the white 
people of all the Southern States. There is not a governor 
in the South who is not as deeply concerned for the protec- 
tion of the white women as Blease could possibly be, and 
more intelligently so, and we doubt if there is a governor 
in the whole country who is in the slightest degree indiffer- 
ent to the inviolability of woman's person. 

"It is not necessary for a governor or a citizen to become 



1A 

an anarchist in order to assert his respect for womanhood, 
nor is woman's safety dependent upon such anarchy. All 
right-thinking people will sympathize with the people of 
South Carolina who have been placed in such a humiliating 
attitude before the country by a man who was under the 
highest obligations to exemplify their splendid ideals. It 
is to be hoped that the South Carolina Legislature may have 
the decency to repudiate Blease's conduct, and this could be 
done in no more telling way than by impeaching him." 

I shall leave the subject of lynching to allow space for the 
Chronicle's editorial. It takes the Negro to task because he 
votes a Republican ticket. I don't see it that the Negro 
should vote a Democratic ticket because he lives in the 
South. It would look bad if he voted against his interests 
and other poor men's best interests. But the Democrats 
cannot guarantee good times. The Negro don't want to see 
any more 3-cent cotton. This, however, has been explained 
on another page. The Negro has repaid the white man well 
for all he has or ever will do for him regarding the school 
question. When this country was a vast wilderness the Ne- 
gro made it a garden spot without cost. 

About the Negro selling out; if he did so, a white man 
bought him. 

Is he the only citizen that will sell out? Will the white 
man sell? 

Some years ago didn't some of the senators and represen- 
tatives sell out at Jefferson City, Mo. ? They were all white. 

About the Republican presidents appointing Negroes to 
office; Mr. Grover Cleveland appointed Hon. C. H. J. Tay- 
lor recorder of deeds. He was a Negro. 

About the Brownsville affair; it is like the Monk Gibson 
case. 

See the Houston Chronicle, December 4, 1912: 



"THE PRESIDENT-TO-BE AND THE NEGRO. 

"The people of the South entertain views on the Negro 
question which are traditional and are so fixed as to have 
become profound and unchangeable convictions. Many 
people in the North call such convictions senseless preju- 
dices, but that narrow and ignorant view cannot change the 
facts and is entitled to no respect. 

"The people of the South know, as people everywhere else 
know, that for nearly fifty years the Negro has been used 
as a tool by conscienceless politicians in the endeavor to 
fasten Republican government on the Southern States, and 



75 

the people of the South were engaged for many years in the 
effort to avoid that fate. 

"They had a bitter taste and test for more than ten years 
of a government conducted by Negroes, instigated, domi- 
nated and directed by Republican white men, and the recol- 
lection of that fearful period is burned in ineffaceable lines 
on the tablets of their memories. 

"They know, too, that in every Republican convention the 
Negro has been bought and sold like chattels, and that his 
vote has often largely influenced the selection of Republican 
candidates. 

"They know, too, that, though the people of the South 
have, in days of poverty and plenty alike, taxed themselves 
to educate the children of the Negro, paying five dollars for 
every one he paid, and have steadfastly resisted the effort 
to divide the school fund in proportion to the contribution 
to it by the taxpayers of each race, yet the Negro voters 
have, almost to a man, aligned and arrayed themselves 
against the white Democrats, and in every State and national 
election have assailed and denounced the Democratic party. 
"They know, too, that every Republican president has 
thrown a sop to the Negro voters by putting some Negro 
politician in some responsible office, the position of register 
of the treasury being the berth generally assigned as the 
one of greatest distinction. 

"Mr. Roosevelt appointed a Negro collector of revenue in 
Georgia, a Negro collector of customs at Charleston, a Negro 
postmaster in Mississippi, and Mr. Taft appointed a Negro 
collector of customs in the District of Columbia and a Negro 
assistant attorney general, and some years ago Mr. Harri- 
son appointed a Negro collector of customs at Galveston. 

"They know that every department of the government at 
Washington is filled with Negro employes, and that hun- 
dreds of Southern women, descendants of the best families, 
are obliged to work side by side with them in many in- 
stances and meet them on that measure and footing of social 
equality which such condition involves. 

"They know that a band of Negro soldiers rioted and mur- 
dered in Brownsville, and that the people of Texas had to 
arm themselves to prevent outrages by Negro soldiers re- 
turning from the Philippines. 

"They know that Mr. Roosevelt so treated Booker T. Wash- 
ington as to create an impression in the minds of the igno- 
rant Negroes, North and South, and stimulate such hopes, 
as have wrought incalculable harm. 

"They know that in the throng of guests at every presi- 
dential function Negro men and Negro women thrust them- 



76 

selves in among- those the thresholds of whose homes they 
would not dare attempt to cross. 

"The people of the South do not believe^ these conditions 
should continue. They know that unless Mr. Wilson is 
recreant to the traditions under which he was reared and 
shall treat with indifference the sentiments — and, if you 
please, the prejudices — of his fellow countrymen of the 
South and do violence to their convictions of social pro- 
priety, he will endeavor to change them. 

"A president, in all matters of social action and social 
regulations, should reflect the sentiment of the people, just 
as he should endeavor to do in matters political, and he 
knows and every other man knows, that deep down in their 
hearts nine out of every ten intelligent, decent people in the 
United States do not approve of social equalty between the 
races in any measure or degree, and do not want it, and will 
not tolerate it. 

"The unconquerable racial instinct rises in protest and 
rebels against it, and the president should not, in his official 
capacity any more than in his personal capacity, do that 
which even in the most formal and impersonal way will rec- 
ognize such right or encourage even the remotest hope of a 
change in sentiment and conditions and conduct and usage 
which are as unchangeable as the laws of the Medes and 
Persians." 

The Negro will forget the idea of slavery regarding the 
Republican party, and the white man ought to do the same; 
if so there would be few Democrats among the whites, from 
the fact that the Democrats have not guaranteed and cannot 
guarantee prosperity. 

The modern Negro will adapt himself to principles, and 
not to race prejudice. It is as I have said, the poor white 
man who is ignorant and knows nothing about the principles 
of either party, only votes the Democratic ticket, thinking 
he is voting against the Negro, when he is voting against 
himself at the same time. If his vote makes hard times, it 
is hard on all poor people alike. 

The man who has a good bank account is able to stand a 
panic, but the poor man must suffer; his children also must 
suffer. They must often want bread when the father is 
without a job. 

The Negro cannot stand all the Democratic company, from 
the fact that Jeff Davis of Arkansas, Vai-daman of Missis- 
sippi, Ben Tillman of South Carolina, Cole P. Blease, also 
of South Carolina, are Democrats, and all have a malignant 



77 



feeling toward the Negro. Why should the Negro relish 
such company? 

And, too, the Negro does not want to invite Coxey's army 
any more to Washington City by his vote. I shall now dis- 
•ni.ss this subject. 



CHAPTER VI. 

POLITICS. 

I feel it not out of place for a short write-up of the Pro- 
gressive party, the winning party for 1916 without fail. 
They made a late start, and made a good showing. By doing 
systematic work now, for four years hence, everything will 
be well. 

(The Associated Press, December 9, 1912.) 

"Chicago, Dec. 8. — Preparations for the National Confer- 
ence of the Progressive party here Tuesday and Wednesday 
were completed tonight. Members of the local committee 
on arrangements announced they had reserved accommoda- 
tions for about a thousand delegates before the arrival of 
Colonel Roosevelt and his party tomorrow. The National 
Progressive Committee will discuss a plan of action for the 
next four years which probably will be laid before the con- 
ference for approval. 

"Colonel Roosevelt and Miss Jane Addams of Hull House 
will deliver the chief addresses at the sessions of the con- 
ference." 

"New York, Dec. 9. — Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and 150 
other Progressive party leaders and members left for Chi- 
cago today on a special train of ten cars, from the rear of 
which in electric letters was emblazoned 'Bull Moose Spe- 
cial.' The occasion of this midwinter political activity is 
the proposed solidification of the new party and the making 
of plans for future campaigns. Members from other States 
are on the way to join in the Chicago conference. 

"Colonel Roosevelt and his party were cheered by a small 
crowd as they left at 1 o'clock. Although the colonel had no 
comment to make upon the situation, several members of his 
party, particularly Oscar Straus and Frank A. Munsey, de- 
clared that if the Republican party hoped to rejuvenate it- 
self, it would have to be by turning Progressives. 

"These sentiments were in reference to the decision of 
the Republican Governors' Conference in Washington yes- 
terday to wait another year before taking steps to reorgan- 



78 

ize the party with the hope expressed that Progressives 
would be brought back into the fold. 

"Mr. Munsey said that those attending the meeting had 'a 
big job on his hands.' He added that the only way to 
achieve the union was for the Republicans to accept the Pro- 
gressive platform and policies and come into the party as 
formed. If they did this, he said, the two parties could be 
united. 

"Similar sentiments were expressed by several others of 
the party. 

"More than a score of women were in the party which 
took the train here." 

Colonel Roosevelt is the greatest living American states- 
man today, which I repeat again. Our country is safe in his 
care. Give him the reins again. God Himself has made 
him a leader, therefore he is compelled to be great. 
See the New Orleans, La., Picayune. 
Vardaman wants the fourteenth and fifteenth amend- 
ments of the national constitution repealed. He is a Demo- 
crat. He tried to polish his statement, but it was full of 
hatred and prejudice against the Negro: 

"Jackson, Miss., Dec. 8. — Senator-elect James K. Varda- 
man, who has himself established a record for pronounced 
views on the race question, has opinions of his own on the 
position of Governor Blease of South Carolina, as delivered 
before the House of Governors at Richmond two or three 
days ago. Having been questioned considerably by wire and 
by personal query for his views on the Blease episode, Sen- 
ator Vardaman prepared the following statement tonight: 
" 'A splendid opportunity was lost by the governors of the 
Southern States in the Richmond conference to teach the un- 
informed nation the truth regarding the anomalous condi- 
tion existing in the South, which condition made it possible 
for Governor Blease to make the extraordinary speech ac- 
credited to him. Instead of commenting on and condemning 
the ebullition of temper manifested on the part of the South 
Carolina executive, it would have been better to have brushed 
aside his intemperate utterances with an expression of de- 
nunciation, if they felt like it, and then proceed to explain to 
the American people the reason why hundreds of thousands 
of good, law-loving, home-building, God-fearing white men, 
both in the North and the South, down, deep in their hearts, 
harbor a feeling toward the black rapist, close akin to the 
sentiment expressed by Governor Blease. They might with 
great profit to the nation and credit to themselves have ex- 
plained how it is possible for race feeling to run so high in 
Pennsylvania, the State of brotherly love, that the leader of 



79 

a mob indicted for hanging a Negro who murdered a white 
man was promptly acquitted by a white jury, and the case 
against the accessories dismissed by the prosecuting attor- 
ney with the statement that race prejudice was so intense in 
that community that you could not convict a white man for 
killing a Negro. 

" 'Governor Blease's unfortunate speech was only a symp- 
tom scarcely deserving a passing notice, but the governors 
of Alabama and Virginia overlooked the serious problem 
beneath it all and were content with denouncing the indi- 
vidual, who really counted for nothing, and overlooked the 
problem, which is all-important. As a matter of fact, in the 
heart of every true Southern man there is a feeling that 
would lead him to override the law, defy courts and dis- 
regard all the restraints of civilization when it comes to 
wreaking vengeance or inflicting punishment upon a beast 
in human form who had committed a crime against a mem- 
ber of his family more horrible than death. 

" 'I have been the governor of Mississippi, and was 
called upon to repeatedly enforce the law, and I did it as no 
other governor before or since in the South has ever done 
to protect the black despoiler 01 the white man's home. 

" 'And yet I felt while doing it that if one of my loved ones 
had been the victim I would have gone to extremes that 
would have shocked civilization to have punished the brute. 
I am not inclined to condone the indiscretion of Governor 
Blease. There was no necessity of him putting the ques- 
tion in the way he did. It was unfortunate, because the 
, man was misunderstood. But I think the Southern gov- 
ernors who condemned him were guilty of a greater crime 
of omission than was Blease's sin of commission. Gov- 
ernors Mann of Virginia and O'Neill of Alabama lost a 
glorious opportunity to instruct the American people in re- 
gard to the race problem of the nation. The evil is here. 
It cannot be removed by ill-tempered speeches like the one 
delivered by the governor of South Carolina, nor can the 
problem be' solved by the stupid timidity displayed by the 
governors of Virginia and Alabama. You seldom pick up a 
newspaper that does not contain an account of an outrage 
perpetrated by some black beast upon a white woman, which 
is almost universally followed by hanging at the hands of 
the mob. Executives rant and rage and yet no man is ever 
punished for participating in the mob. As a matter of 
fact, as long as this crime is committed the mob will try 
and settle with the perpetrator. But in spite of all that, 
wise and dignified governors make no effort to discover the 
source of trouble and remove the evil. But they are sat- 



80 

isfied with condemning somebody who happens to call at- 
tention to the terrible situation in an unhappy way. When 
the American people understand that the war amendments 
to the Federal Constitution, the fourteenth and fifteenth 
amendments, must be repealed or modified as conditions 
precedent to the intelligent treatment of this great question 
by the lawmaking bodies and the courts, a long step will 
have been taken toward the ultimate solution. 

" 'The laws must be made to fit the race ; the criminal ten- 
dency of the Negro must be restrained by law; his status 
in society must be fixed by a statute, and the courts author- 
ized to treat him as a race peculiar to himself. Then un- 
fortunate incidents like that which occurred in the Confer- 
ence of Governors at Richmond the other day, discredita- 
ble alike to all participants, will not happen.' " 

He wants a separate law for the Negro. It would be un- 
constitutional. 

(From the Houston Post, December 13, 1912.) 
"BLEASEISM DENOUNCED. 

"Whatever Governor Blease may think of lynch law, 
there is no mistaking the position of the South Carolina 
press and the best citizens of the Commonwealth They, 
stand resolutely for law and order, and they resent the hu- 
miliating position in which they have been placed by their 
rattle-brained governor. Of course, all intelligent people 
know that Governor Blease does not represent this ele- 
ment in his anarchistic preachments. Nor are we inclined 
to believe the ultimate verdict of South Carolina will be 
one of approval of Blease's conduct. 

"Blease has issued his challenge and announced himself 
as a candidate for the Senate, and South Carolina civili- 
zation is going to accept it and endeavor to prevent the re- 
proach of having Blease the State's spokesman in that au- 
gust body. Arrayed against Blease will be the press, the 
pulpit, the bench and bar, and the enlightened citizenship of 
the State, and these combined ought to redeem the name of 
South Carolina and eradicate the stain that Blease has put 
upon it. 

"As an evidence of the indignation this man has aroused, 
we reproduce the following from the Charleston News and 
Courier: 

' 'Unquestionably, the individual who asserts that he does 
not care what people think of him is either a fool or else 
speaks that which he does not believe. This does not mean, 



81 

of course, that a man may not be indifferent to popularity. 
There are doubtless plenty of people who are careless as 
to whether or not they are liked by those with whom they 
associate, who even shun the making of many acquaint- 
ances, but to be unpopular is one thing and to be held in 
contempt is quite another. 

" 'Every man knows that this is so, and while, therefore, 
Governor Blease may continue to be brazenly defiant of the 
approval of his colleagues who were at Richmond and of 
those whom they represent, South Carolina, at any rate, 
cannot afford not to take into account the public opinion 
of the nation. There is small difficulty about ascertaining 
what it is so far as we are concerned. Governor Blease 
has made himself for the moment the most talked of man 
in America, and the publicity which he has achieved be- 
longs not to himself alone, but is shared by the State whose 
citizens, knowing him for what he is, failed to repudiate 
him when they had the opportunity, but twice elected him 
to the highest office in their gift. It was as South Caro- 
lina's govenor that he has been accorded front page space 
in most of the 2,500 daily newspapers of the land. It is 
South Carolina which will continue, for years to come, to 
hear the echoes of the exhibition which he has made of her 
as well as of himself.' 

"People who feel thus deeply may be depended upon to 
carry their resentment to the uttermost, and the enlighten- 
ed people of the entire South will hope for a successful ter- 
mination of their efforts. Blease in the Senate would be 
a reflection upon the entire South." 

DR. BOOKER T. WASHINGTON'S STATEMENT. 

(From the Palestine Plaindealer, Colored, dealing with the 

courts and law.) 

"Dr. Booker T. Washington, the greatest living mortal 
today, is saying a great number of things in our favor. 
He first attacks the courts of the South, before which the 
Negro is tried. He makes it very plain indeed that it is im- 
possible for the Negro to get justice in the courts where 
the question involved is between a Negro and a white man. 
He says, however, the injury on our race is only temporary, 
while the injury on the jury or the whole white race is per- 
manent. Other questions which he discussed with inter- 
est to the entire race were : 'Unequal Laws Cause of Race 
Troubles,' 'The Lack of a "Square Deal" in Education in the 
South,' 'Convict Labor a Great Evil in the South,' 'The Bal- 
lot to the Intelligent Negro,' and 'The Crime of Lynching.' : 



82 

HIGHWAYMEN. 

Some club room goers are making it hard, possibly, on 
most of the innocent Negroes. We see that the white 
women are going to be armed. Some white ladies are very 
easily excited. No doubt this will make business for the 
undertakers, from the fact, the least stick broken, with a 
gun in hand, business would pick up; they would just as 
likely shoot a Negro going from them as one coming toward 
them. However, we could not feel sorry if the real purse- 
snatcher would get killed in every attempt, whether Ne- 
gro, Mexican or Dago. See Houston Post, December 4, 
1912: 

"The concentrated efforts of almost every officer of the 
police department are at this time directed toward appre- 
hending a band of Negro purse-snatchers who, within the 
past two weeks, have robbed eight white women on the 
streets of Houston. 

"Monday night the problem assumed a more serious as- 
pect when Mrs. T. D. Jones, 711 Live Oak Street, was at- 
tacked by an unidentified Negro. When she resisted him 
taking her purse she received painful knife wounds and 
rough treatment at the Negro's hands. 

"The police have a twofold purpose in their sweeping 
search of the city in quest of the Negroes. They are mak- 
ing strenuous efforts to break up the band of thieves and at 
the same time are endeavoring to offer protection to the 
working women who are forced to go to their homes after 
dark when they have finished work. 

"Chief of Police Noble received numerous requests from 
women Tuesday asking that they be allowed to carry weap- 
ons while going home from work. In each instance Chief 
Noble granted the permission, stating that the police were 
giad to indulge in any reasonable practice at this time which 
will increase the protection to women on the streets. 

"Two Negroes have been arrested charged with snatch- 
ing purses. Ten suspects are at this time in the city jail, 
but no charges have been preferred against any of them. 
The detective department, under the supervision of Chief 
Smith, is making a thorough search for the bold thieves." 
(From the Houston Post, December 2, 1912.) 

"Savannah, Ga., Dec. 1. — 'Rome in her worst days never 
harbored such conditions of vice as are prevalent in our 
highest social circles at the present time,' declared Bishop 
A. W. Wilson of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, 
in a sermon here today. 

' 'Never at any period of the world's history,' added 



83 

Bishop Wilson, 'has the morals been so thin or so low. The 
world is beset today with more insane theories and philos- 
ophies, more hypocritical creeds than ever before. 

" 'The advance of science and philosophy in the study of 
the fine infinite subjects connected with the creation of the 
earth is imperiling the religious welfare of the world. 
Scientific process will never disclose the hidden secrets of 
the universe. The mystery which passeth the understanding 
will not be unfolded by the hand of man through the ap- 
plication of philosophy.' " 

The leading men of the white race are also very much 
concerned regarding nowaday society. It is indeed an im- 
portant matter to take under consideration by our leading 
men and women, and try to stop the decline. For instance, 
take Jack Johnson's case. However, I do not hold him as 
a model, but rather condemn him for desiring to get away 
from our race, when his color will not allow him to do so. 
See the press : 

(Houston Post, December 4, 1912.) 
"JACK JOHNSON AGAIN BENEDICT. 

Pugilist Married Lucille Cameron in Chicago Yesterday. 

"Chicago, Dec. 3. — Jack Johnson, Negro pugilist, this 
afternoon married Lucille Cameron, the 19-year-old white 
girl of Minneapolis, who recently appeared as a witness 
against him before the federal grand jury which returned 
indictments charging him with violations of the Mann act. 
The ceremony was performed at the home of Johnson's 
mother by a Negro preacher in the presence of a dozen 
Negroes and several newspaper reporters. 

"The girl wore a suit of gray shepherd plaid. Johnson 
had a suit of the same material, especially made for the oc- 
casion. 

"A curious crowd of nearly a thousand men and women 
gathered outside the house and a squad of police was kept 
busy maintaining order. 

' 'The whole affair is antagonistic to public policy and 
morals generally,' said Chief McWeeny. 

"The marriage will not affect Johnson's case before the 
Federal Court, according to Johnson's attorneys. 

"Johnson said he told the Cameron girl he had been 
blamed for ill-treating her and that 'we might as well be 
married right away.' 

" 'She is alone in the world now,' said Johnson. 'Her 



84 

mother has left her and her stepfather is quoted as saying 
he wanted to have nothing more to do with her.' ; ' 

I don't care to make any further comment on this matter. 

See further, the Plaindealer of Palestine, Texas: 

(From the Palestine Plaindealer, Colored, Saturday, Nov. 

30, 1912.) 

"The abduction case against Champion Jack Johnson was 
dismissed in the Municipal Court Tuesday, the prosecution 
having failed to make out a case. It is rumored that Lu- 
cille Cameron was to be freed and that her mother was to 
take her South. But the court refused to release her until 
after the champion's trial. 

" 'No part of the South for me,' said the Cameron girl 
in an interview. 'I am afraid to go anywhere but back to 
my home in Minneapolis.' 

"The Champion's Victory. 

"Jack Johnson, the recognized champion of the world, 
won the greatest victory of his life when, through his able 
attorneys, W. G. Anderson and Edward H. Wright, he 
forced the United States government to admit him to bail 
last Saturday morning. 

"For a whole week some of Chicago's ablest white lawyers 
had been endeavoring to 'land their man' on bail before 
Judge Carpenter, but each time they made a move they 
were 'turned down,' either by the judge or district attor- 
ney. They offered $500,000 cash bail, as well as Mrs. Tiny 
Johnson's property, and still they could not get Jack out." 

AN HONORABLE CITIZEN— A NEGRO. 

The following article is reproduced to show the honesty 
of a member of our race, which is a credit to the whole race. 
This old man had an opportunity to get away with this 
$55,000, as he was alone in the bank soon before day one 
morning. The Negro is as safe as a bank, the majority. 

"Pensacola, Fla., Nov. 28.— William Bell, until a few 
weeks ago a trusted clerk in the First National Bank of 
Pensacola, today pleaded guilty in the United States Court 
to the theft of $55,000 from the bank on September 18. 
Judge Sheppard sentenced him to two years in the Federal 
reform school at Washington. The 18-year-old bank clerk 
engineered one of the shrewdest robberies in recent bank 
history and was not under suspicion when, conscience- 
stricken, he returned the money. In broad daylight, in the 
presence of a score of other employes in the bank, Bell ex- 
changed a bogus package for a package containing $55,000 



85 

which had been prepared for shipment, secreting the valu- 
able package in the bank until that night when he just as 
adroitly removed it to his home. 

"Scores of detectives were employed on the case and had 
found no definite clew when, on the morning of September 
23, almost one week after the robbery, the old Negro jani- 
tor of the bank found the $55,000 wrapped in a newspaper 
lying against the iron grating of the rear door of the bank 
where Bell had placed it. His confession followed the next 
day. 

"Because of his youth and his previous conduct, Judge 
Sheppard imposed the lightest sentence possible." 

An accused purse-snatcher — after all he might not be a 
Negro, from the fact that very few Negroes wear a No. 5 
shoe. This may be a case of blacking the face, but behind 
that smut there is a white face. If a Negro, I woudd be as 
glad to see him arrested as a white man, but any sensible per- 
son who knows white ladies, really knows when he sees 
them walking at night they are broke, or they really need 
the next day what little change they may have in their 
purses. I know them; when they have car fare to spare 
they ride. See the Chronicle. 

(From the Chronicle, December 15, 1912.) 

"Mrs. Michael O'Reilly and daughter, while walking along 
Washington Avenue last night, near Houston Avenue, 
were the victims of a Negro purse-snatcher, who got $3.20. 
He followed them until a dark corner was reached, the po- 
lice say, and grabbed the purse and ran. 

"Both women screamed for help and a crowd gathered 
quickly, but no trace of the Negro could be found. Later 
Detectives Fife and Sheley visited the scene and found a 
shoe lost by the Negro as he leaped a ditch. 

"Assistant Chief Heck immediately telephoned the con- 
vict camp for bloodhounds and the dogs were put on the 
track about 10:30 o'clock. They took up the trail and fol- 
lowed it for some blocks, but finally lost it in a congested 
district in the north part of the city. 

"Mrs. O'Reilly and her daughter were on their way to their 
home at 1530 Kane Street. They were walking hurriedly, 
Mrs. O'Reilly swinging her purse in her hand. When they 
reached the dark corner the purse was suddenly snatched 
from her. She wheeled, saw the Negro, and screamed. A 
description of the Negro was furnished the officers. 

"The shoe found last night was a number five and a half 
or six, and has the top of the front cut away, as if it was 



86 

too small. Every indication, though, officers say, is that 
the owner is small of stature. 

"Last night's affair makes the ninth purse snatched in 
the city within a month. Eight of them came in rapid suc- 
cession, the last of that number being last night two weeks 
ago, when Mrs. T. D. Jones was assaulted with a pocket 
knife. She sustained several wounds and has been con- 
fined to her home since. 

"Following that the police arrested nearly a dozen Ne- 
groes, two of whom admitted they had snatched purses. 
Another Negro, whom the police believe is the one who as- 
saulted Mrs. Jones, is also in jail, but no complaint has been 
filed." 

A Negro woman was accused of holding up a white 
man in Houston, Texas. There is something wrong about 
this statement. What unprejudiced person would believe 
a weakly woman could go in a man's pocket and get his 
money? She didn't have any gun. If this be true, why 
didn't he outrun her? He could have kicked the knife out 
of her hand, if she had one. This looks like a case of so- 
cial equality to me. I don't say she did not get his purse, 
but in my opinion she got it when in a social conversa- 
tion or some other way. White men should leave Negro 
women alone! 

"A bold hold-up occurred last night about 9 o'clock on 
San Jacinto Street, near the High School building, when 
Geneva Allen, a Negress, robbed a young white man of his 
purse containing $6. The woman drew a knife and slashed 
at a man and then ran, he told the officers. 

"Crying for help, the young man gave chase, finally over- 
taking the woman after a race of three blocks. A fight 
then occurred with the woman in which his hand was 
scratched with the knife. She got away, however, and ran 
six blocks before Officers Buford and Bishop caught her. 

"Both officers exhibited signs of a fight and a foot race. 
At the police station $7, two purses and a ticket were found 
on the Negress. The victim of the hold-up identified one 
purse and the ticket. A charge of theft will be filed." 

(Prof. J. B. Raynor, on the race question, in the Houston 
Progress, December 14, copied from the Dallas Express 
of another date, and the Louisville, Ky., Defender.) 

"VIEWS AND REVIEWS OF PRESS AND PEOPLE. 

"J. B. Raynor says : 'The Negro has more virtue, more 
education than he has opportunity. What the Negro needs 
today is opportunity in the industrial world, and justice in 



87 

the courts. The Negro must have opportunity unhampered 
to prove that he is willing to take the advice given.' Right, 
Mr. Raynor. Many opportunities for employment of our 
young people, for instance, are being neglected by our race 
not building enterprises and supporting them. The gate 
to our industrial and commercial success is open, but we are 
behind the fence looking into the other fellow's pasture. 
As to justice in the courts, God Himself will have to cor- 
rect that. When more of the real love of God is in the 
hearts of men, man will get justice, and not before. 

"Some preachers are telling their communicants not to 
subscribe for this paper. They are doing it because the 
editor had the temerity to criticise some of their conduct. 
All right, gentlemen, if you want to take it that way, but 
you can rest assured you will never close the mouth of the 
editor. To stop a paper because there is something in it 
with which you do not agree, is silly and foolish." 

THE JIM CROW STREET CAR AND AFTER DARK SO- 
CIAL EQUALITY. 

(From the Texas Guide, copied by the Houston Progress, 

December 14, 1912.) 

"The Jim Crow street car law has recently become effec- 
tive in Charleston, S. C, and as a result there is not only 
confusion there, but, to use a Miltonic expression, there is 
'confusion worse confounded.' Charleston has more Ne- 
groes who are dangerously and confusedly near-white than 
has any other city on the globe. Octoroons, quadroons and 
just plain mulattoes abound numerously. The result is 
that street car conductors are up against a stiff proposition 
every minute in the day in trying to discover who is white 
and who is Negro. Sometimes he orders a white person 
to take a rear seat, and again he invites a near-white Ne- 
gro to leave the Negro part of the car and come up among 
the white folks. It looks like the sins of the fathers have 
descended to the children of the third and fourth genera- 
tion, and still the end is not in sight. Charleston should 
have been the last place on earth to take to itself a Jim 
Crow law, for, in the words of an old ante-bellum preacher 
who was running a revival there once, 'the people are so 
moral that the very Negroes are turning white, and this 
bleaching process has been going on for two centuries or 
more.' If some of those street car conductors don't get 
lynched or shot full of holes on account of some blunder in 
arranging passengers, we shall be surprised. But we 



88 

won't be surprised to hear that a law has been passed re- 
quiring all 'sure-nufF Negroes to use face powder of a deep 
black hue for purposes of identification. South Carolina 
is capable of a stunt like that. 

"Some weeks ago we spoke of the great likelihood of the 
good and respectable practice of lynching falling in disre- 
pute, from the fact that the convicts in the Wyoming peni- 
tentiary had lynched a Negro who had been sent there for 
safekeeping until his trial could be had. It was somewhat 
against the proprieties that convicts should indulge in a 
sport reserved for good Christian gentlemen. And now 
comes a Florida mob and introduces a most diverting fea- 
ture into that ancient pastime. They took a colored man 
from jail — or rather accepted him from the jailer — marched 
him some distance from town, and then told him they 
thought they had the wrong man, and that if he wanted 
his freedom, he was at liberty to hike. The victim darted 
away with that inspiration which comes when one has been 
expecting death, but receives life. He had not run more 
than twenty yards before that chivalric mob opened fire on 
him with shotguns, rifles and automatic pistols. He was 
literally shot to pieces. Is the good old practice of hanging 
and burning to be replaced by this vaudeville stunt intro- 
duced by the mob of Florida gentlemen? What are we 
coming to, anyway? — Old Hickory, in Dallas Express. 

" 'In some of the smaller places of Texas, where Negroes 
give ''entertainments," etc., white men are very conspicu- 
ous and take almost as much interest as the Negroes. Let 
them cut out the practice, as it is not a good one; in fact, 
the white man who "hangs" around Negro festivals is not 
there for any good, and should be given to understand that 
his presence is not wanted. He is a germ breeder of 
trouble, and if we can't get rid o f him, quit giving the en- 
tertainments. The chivalrous white man who is helping to 
make history, and who is helping in the material advance- 
ment of our country, is not the one who participates in Ne- 
gro socials. The Texas Guide is uncompromisingly op- 
posed to social equality in any old form, and is more so 
against 'after dark social equality.' " 

It seems very strange that Charleston, S. C, would pass 
laws to separate brother and sister. Is there so much prej- 
udice in that State until there is no kindred ties or love? 

The best Negroes must keep white men's Negro women in 
the rear. But some preachers put them in front ranks of 
our best girls, and that's little encouragement to our good 
girls. 

The white man will not allow the Negro to cross the line 



89 

in the South in districts where he is not welcome. Why 
don't the Negro do the same? If it takes death to protect 
homes, so mote it be! 

Lynching No. 7 — Mississippi Mob. 

(From the Houston Chronicle, December 20, 1912.) 

"NEGRO ROBBER IS DISCOVERED WITH HIS BODY 

FULL OF SHOT. 

"Meridian, Miss., Dec. 20. — Riddled with bullets the body 
of an unidentified Negro was found in a swamp near Cuba, 
Ala., twenty miles north of here, today. The Negro last 
night sandbagged and instantly killed Perry Wilkinson, 
a jeweler of that place. He was arrested, but escaped from 
the city marshal. The Negro was pursued by a number of 
citizens, who fired a fusillade after him. It was thought he 
had escaped until his body was found today." 

This mob has no certainty that they got the right Negro. 
They wanted some Negro, that was all. 

WHITE MEN TRYING TO DODGE BEHIND 

NEGROES. 

Two white men, masked, put a young white lady on the 
H. & T. C. track to be run over, but God was there and she 
was not killed. Had she been killed many Negroes would 
have been arrested; the white press would have branded 
many innocent Negroes as black brutes. But the girl said 
white men did it, as in many other cases ; however, most of 
which are laid at the feet of the Negro. All of these 
purse-snatchers are not Negroes by any means. Masked 
men usually mask to dodge behind innocent Negroes. If 
this is the usual work of black brutes, and since they did 
not do it, there must be white brutes. Time and space will 
not allow me to further comment on this incident. See 
Houston Post, December 21, 1912. Article is as follows : 

"That she was bound hand and feet, gagged and placed 
on a railroad track in front of a moving train by two 
masked men, is the sensational and thrilling story told by 
a 15-year-old girl, who was found last night about 10:30 
o'clock in an unconscious condition at the bottom of a 15- 
foot railroad embankment on the Houston & Texas Central 
Railroad, one block west of the Houston Infirmary. 

"The girl declares that by her own efforts she rolled her- 
self from the track and down the embankment just in time 



90 

to escape being ground to death beneath the wheels of the 
train. 

''She was discovered by J. K. Griffin, a Houston & 
Texas Central Railroad watchman, who was walking along 
tne track and saw her body lying in the ditch at the bottom 
of the steep grade. Making a hasty examination he im- 
mediately notified the. police and Chief Heck and detectives 
immediately rushed to the scene. 

"Officers lifted the girl from the ditch, loosened the bonds 
at her feet and hands and removed the gag from her mouth. 
She was then taken to the Houston Infirmary, where a 
thorough examination of her body was made. That she 
had not been harmed beyond having been bound was deter- 
mined by the physicians. 

"The girl lay on the operating table, her eyes wide open, 
her pulse normal, yet unable to speak a word. Her gaze 
was fixed on certain objects, and although severe tests were 
made, she did not bat her eyes at any time. 

"Both the physicians and the police declared it the most 
unusual case that had ever come under their observation. 
She was taken to a room and nurses sat by her bedside to 
await developments in her condition. 

"Shortly after 1 o'clock she regained consciousness al- 
most with a shock, and a complete nervous breakdown re- 
sulted. While officers and the hospital attendants gath- 
ered around her bedside she related the thrilling and har- 
rowing story which she says is a correct account of her ex- 
periences. 

" 'Friday afternoon my mother went to town. We reside 
at 519 Roy Street, Brunner Addition, and no one was at 
home except my sister and myself. I was in the kitchen 
cooking supper and was peeling potatoes when I noticed that 
the fire in the stove had gone out. 

" 'I went out in the yard to the woodpile to get some wood 
and was stooping down when I felt some one touch my arm. 
I was dragged through a hole in the fence and two masked 
white men seized me. Both of them wore masks and while 
one of them held his hand over my mouth the other blind- 
folded me and put a cloth over my face so that I could not 
scream. 

" 'They tried to get me to drink something out of a small 
bottle, but I refused. I think that it was chloroform. I 
knocked the bottle aside and then I lost my senses. 

" 'I remember no more until I felt and saw a light coming 
up from behind me. I heard the noise of a train and knew 
it was one approaching. One of the men suggested that 



91 

they place me on the railroad track and the other one 
wanted to throw me in a boxcar. 

" 'The train was getting closer all the time and I was al- 
most scared to death. They dropped me on the track and 
ran into an alley or somewhere, I can't remember to save 
my life. 1 raised myself on my elbows and rolled off the 
track and down a hill just as the train went by. 

" 'I can't remember any more until I woke up here just 
now. I don't know who the two men were and I don't think 
I would know them if I saw them again. ^ I can't talk any 
more now because I have told all 1 know.' 

Many Negroes have been killed by mob violence. But 
the great number is offset by the annual report of the In- 
terstate Commerce Commission at Washington, D. C, for 
the twelve months just ended. Ten thousand five hundred 
and eighty-five have been killed by the railroads, the majority 
of whom were whites ; 169,538 hurt by railroads, most of 
whom were whites. 

The Negro's blood and life must be offset by the race that 
caused his death. This is God's way. You must be your 
brother's keeper. 

ARKANSAS GOVERNOR PARDONED THREE HUN- 
DRED AND SIXTY CONVICTS. 

I cannot advise what per cent were Negroes ; possibly the 
majority were Negroes. As a rule not many white men go 
to the penitentiary. He said the prison system in his 
State was a hell. 

(Houston Post, December 21, 1912.) 

"Little Rock, Ark., Dec. 20. — Answering criticisms of 
him for pardoning 360 penitentiary convicts, Governor 
George W. Donaghey today gave out the following reply : 

" 'Ye gods and little fishes ; let me say : 

" 'That I never said the convicts paroled by me were not 
convicted and put in the penitentiary for crimes. I did not 
say that any member of the Penitentiary Board had not in- 
troduced .certain resolutions. I have not said that any 
member of the board failed to do the best they could. 

" 'But here is what I do say, and let us stick to the text. 
I want to repeat it : 

" 'That the Arkansas penitentiary, under the lease sys- 
tem, is a burning, seething hell, consuming human beings, 
and that these human beings are being fed to it in a manner 
which results in nothing but making fortunes for contrac- 
tors.' 



92 

"Among those who have criticised the governor is Com- 
missioner of Mines John H. Page, a member of the Peniten- 
tiary Board. By turning the convicts out without notice 
to the board, Attorney General H. Norwood, a board mem- 
ber, today said the State Board is compelled to buy clothes 
and shoes for each liberated convict, the price being $7 
each. Liberating the convicts will cost $4,000." 

The Governor of. .Tennessee pardoned fifty convicts. 

(Houston Post, December 21, 1912.) 

"PAROLE SYSTEM PROBABLE. 

"Governor of Tennessee Proud of Pardoned Men's Rec- 
ords. 

"Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 30. — In a letter to the convicts 
at the State penitentiary, sent through Chairman J. S. Beas- 
ley of the State Prison Commission, Governor Hooper, on 
the eve of a trip to Florida, expresses keen regret that ill- 
ness has prevented him from going over numerous pardon 
records. He says : 

" 'I have conditionally pardoned fifty men in addition to 
the absolute pardons, and only one man out of the whole 
number has violated his conditional pardon. This en- 
courages me to believe that the incoming Legislature will 
enact a parole system. When it does there are many men 
in the State prison whose conduct will entitle them to im- 
mediate consideration.' " 

Oklahoma wants to disfranchise the Negro. The Negro 
has seen his hardest time; he has seen his darkest days. 
However, whatever hardships are put in his way will only 
be temporary and not permanent. The white man who 
fights him hardest, as a rule, has but little weight or ability 
or common sense. As a rule, he is poor, and always will be 
poor. For his principle, he has none. God will not let. him 
prosper. He will die fighting the Negro, and at the end 
land in Sheol. He that has aught against his brother can- 
not see God's face in peace. There is no need of- trying to 
get to heaven with a prejudiced heart against the Negro. 
No white man will ever get to heaven who has a hateful 
heart against the black man. If so, the Holy Book is not 
true, and I believe every word of it. The Negro is safe, 
because he is a student of prayer. He cultivates his heart, 
so God will hear and answer his pleading, that trust in him. 
You might as well try to stop the sun as the Negro, from the 
fact, the Negro as a whole, has employed God on his case. 



93 



See the Western Star, December 21, the Negro Baptist 
national weekly, published at Houston, Texas: 

"UNIQUE QUESTION RAISED. 



"Will Die 'Aborning' as All Other Whose Object is Humili- 
ation and Oppression. 

"Oklahoma City, Dec. 14. — The contention that the Four- 
teenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the 
United States are null and void and that no Negro has the 
right to vote, is made in the contest of John J. Carney 
against Congressman Dick T. Morgan, prepared today to 
be filed in Congress Monday. The contention is made that 
the enfranchisement of the Negro was not ratified by a vote 
of two-thirds of the States. Lawyers here say there is 
something in the questions raised and that all the Negroes 
in the South may be disfranchised. 

"Carney made the race for Congressman in the Second 
District, but was defeated on the face of the returns. Mor- 
gan has been given a certificate of election, but before it 
was issued Carney filed notice that he would contest the 
election in Congress on the ground that the 'grandfather' 
clause of the Oklahoma Constitution had been violated by 
permitting Negroes to vote for Morgan." 

LOUISIANA MOB— LYNCHING NO. 8. 

(From the Houston Chronicle, December 23, 1912.) 

"Baton Rouge, La., Dec. 23. — When Sheriff Parker went 
to the court house of West Baton Rouge this morning he 
found the body of Norman Cadore, a Negro, swinging from 
a telegraph pole a short distance from the jail. 

"Cadore had been convicted of killing James Norman, a 
plantation manager, about three weeks ago. Cadore's at- 
torneys had taken steps to file a motion for an appeal. 

"Details of the lynching were not known here early 
today." 

A Negro lynched at the Louisiana capital. Most sher- 
iffs seem to be only forerunners for mobs. Another human 
soul lynched. Another being in God's own image lynched 
without judge or jury! No laws to protect him. The 
rich will not spend their money to stop mob violence. The 
United States Congress will not try to stop it. The white 
preachers will not preach against it. The millionaires are 
spending many millions to exterminate the hookworm 
which, in my judgment, is not as malignant as Judge 



94 

Lynch. Why not start a crusade to exterminate mob vio- 
lence? 

You must be your brother's keeper or something will hap- 
pen to you, friend. 

The Negro is not treated right as a man and citizen by 
his white brother. The white man is certainly our 
brother, from the fact God never made a second creation 
of man. See Gen. 1-27:28. 

Is the white man a Christian? Can he get to heaven? 
If he believes the Holy Bible and lives it he can. He can 
not get to heaven with a prejudiced heart against the Negro. 
No malice or prejudice can enter heaven. I will try to 
prove this contention by the Bible. See 1 John 4-20, 1 John 
3-13, Matt. 5-44, Luke 6-27, Lev. 19-17, Lev. 19-16, Mark 
13-13, St. Mark 12-30:31 and Eph. 4:32. 

It doesn't make any difference whether white or colored, 
if they do not live up to these Bible truths their cases with 
God must be questioned. 

An incident of twenty years ago comes to mind. When I 
desired to take a theological course in school and had no 
money, no relatives and no friends able to help me, Dr. W. 
L. Balay wrote or sent out a circular letter throughout the 
Eastern States. One rich white preacher wrote me and 
offered to put me in school until my education was com- 
pleted, with traveling expense money, but as soon as he 
found out that I was. colored he declined his offer. I did 
not think hard of him; he didn't know me. Had I been a 
young white man he would not have known me. All I have 
to say about him, he had color prejudice in his heart, and 
he cannot cross Jordan with prejudice in his heart or see 
God's face in peace! 

Another great injustice done me, a few years ago, not 
long after I lost my beloved wife, I got a job with the 
local office of the I. & G. N., a combination job. My title 
was porter. These were my duties: Clean up the office, 
get the United States mail, copy all outgoing letters, state- 
ments of earnings, joint accounts and foreign settlements; 
file way bills and expense bills and fire stationary engine 
for steam heat. I had a desk, and everything went on 
nicely until the chief clerk, Mr. Foster, left for a better job. 
There was nothing about the job that gave me any trouble, 
as I could be a teacher at that line of work. The new chief 
clerk came; he was not there long before I soon found out 
he didn't like to see a Negro at a desk. My opinion of him 
was right. He came to me one day and said: "Branch, 
you have too much clerical work to do; show this white 



95 

man how to do your desk work, and you need not do any- 
thing but clean up." 

I asked the white man if he had ever done any work of 
that kind. He told me that he had not. I did not show 
him then, but intended to. I went down stairs to fire up 
before beginning my teaching of this ignorant white man. 
When I got down stairs this white man was just behind me. 
I told him he would not have to fire. He told me the chief 
clerk told him to watch me do all my work. I said to him : 
"You wait here; let me see the chief clerk." I went up 
stairs and told the chief clerk to arrange to pay me at 12 m. 
He asked, "Why, Branch?" "When you came to the I. & 
G. N. you found me here doing this work and knowing how 
to do it (I clearly saw he wanted to let me out on account 
of color). I have been giving satisfaction. If not, how 
can I show him right?" Can a student surpass his teacher? 
I told him if he wanted this ignorant white man, who 
could barely read, to take my job, he had better send him 
to the Massey's Business College. He said to me that he 
had another job for me. I told him that was not what he 
first said. "And about another job; how do you know I 
want what you have to offer me, if anything at all ?" 

Not long afterward he was let out by the superintendent. 
I heard of it and tried to be Christianlike and not be glad, 
but I could not do so. He worked against me without a 
cause, when I needed a job. What he did to me was also 
to my two little boys. I have nothing against him now, 
notwithstanding he has a heart full of prejudice against the 
colored man, and without conversion he is bound for Sheol. 

MORE FACTS ABOUT THE LOUISIANA LYNCHING. 

(From the Washington, D. C, Herald, December 24, 1912.) 

"LOUISIANIANS LYNCH NEGRO. 

"Baton Rouge, La., Dec. 23. — Simon Cadors, a Negro, 
who was convicted of the murder of James Norman, a 
wealthy planter, and who had appealed his case to the Su- 
preme Court after being sentenced to bang, was taken from 
the West Baton Rouge jail during the night and lynched. 
The body was found hanging to a telegraph pole today, 
bearing this placard : 

" 'The inevitable penalty.' " 



96 

(The Houston Post, December 30, 1912, in defense of the 
Negro.) 

"NEGRO MORTALITY IN HOUSTON. 

"The mortuary report of the city of Houston stresses, 
every seven days, the lesson that we need to learn the prob- 
lem that it is imperative for us to solve. The summary 
tells the story: 'Deaths in Houston — Whites 18, colored 
17. Annual death rate per 1,000 for the week among the 
whites in the city of Houston, 11.44. Annual death rate 
per 1,000 for the week among the colored in the city, 32.44.' 

"The surface indication of this showing is that the Ne- 
gro population is indifferent to wholesome living and good 
sanitation. But this is merely a surface indication. The 
lesson of the figures is this: The white people will have 
to take a closer interest in living conditions among the Ne- 
groes. Sanitary conditions in the Negro sections are not 
good. Thousands of Negroes live in mere shacks, with no 
conveniences that tend to comfort and good health. They 
are too poor to afford such things. They must exist just 
as their white landlords will permit them to. 

"The result is inevitable. Under such conditions they 
will sicken and die; they will develop malignant diseases; 
they will disseminate such maladies throughout the white 
sections of the city. 

"There is a philanthropic side to the question. It is that 
the white people ought to aid the Negroes in improving 
living conditions among them. The white people ought to 
aid them in wiping out slum life in Houston, and invoke 
the power of the municipality in so doing. There are huts 
inhabited by Negroes that ought to be condemned by the 
city as a menace to the health of the community. 

"The municipality ought to enforce sanitary regulations 
in the Negro sections, not only against the Negroes, but 
against their white landlords. 

'The Negroes ought not to depend entirely upon the 
white people to combat these conditions. There are in 
Houston many Negroes of education. They ought to con- 
duct a persistent movement among the poorer and less en- 
lightened class to teach them something about health and 
sanitation. 

"There is an economic side to the question. The Ne- 
groes form a large portion of the labor of Houston, and 
this labor ought to be conserved. When the Negres were 
slaves, their masters were very careful of their health and 
wellbeing, because there was a close personal interest that 



97 

had to be considered. In a larger sense, the employers of 
labor in Houston have a practical interest in the bodily 
conditions of the men they employ. Able-bodied laborers 
are needed in all tasks that require strength and endur- 
ance. Healthy servants are imperative in the households 
of the white people. 

"White people can't escape the fact they are interested 
in this question, when Negro women nurse white children 
and have the run of almost every white household. 

"There is an opportunity here for co-operation and intel- 
ligent effort, and it seems to us the situation makes it im- 
perative. 

"Houston has a general interest in public health. That 
is shown by the maintenance of a department of health. 
We have an interest in Houston's reputation as a healthful 
community. Negro mortality tarnishes a record that would 
be good otherwise. A rate of 32.44 among a third of our 
population is not good, and it ought to be attended to." 

I certainly appreciate this article from the Houston Post. 
Coming from such an able paper I don't see why it doesn't 
have some effect. Some white people don't care what ac- 
commodation the Negro gets. For instance, in the Fifth 
Ward, Houston, Texas, the greater portion of the rented 
property for colored people is owned by white men, and 
many of them will not furnish a plank sidewalk. School 
children often go to school over shoe-top in mud ; some take 
sick and die with la grippe on account of such conditions. 
If the father had any manhood, if he could not get a side- 
walk of some kind he would arrange with some white or 
colored man who would furnish sidewalks. If he is able 
to buy his own home, that's better still. 

Negroes need not expect yet to get a fair and sauare deal. 
He is not treated right as a skilled or common laborer. If 
he can surpass the white man as a skilled laborer, the white 
man always gets the most money. I know many cases 
where the Negro is teaching the white man how to do skilled 
work and the white man is getting 10 cents more per hour 
than the Negro. That is not very encouraging for the Ne- 
gro. Now about common laborers: As a rule the Negro 
is able to do more, still there are two prices, $1.50 to $2.00 
for the Negro per day, and for the white man, $2.00 to 
$2.50 per day. 

This condition must change in future. 

The Negro is not a striker, and neither a dynamiter. 
Why not be appreciated as an important factor in this la- 
bor world? 



98 
Lawrence Clifton Branch, Age 6 Years. 




His advice to his father on the 1st day of January, 1913, 
as follows : "Papa, do you want to know how to become 
rich? I will tell you: Every pay day you give Clarence 
(his brother) 5 cents and me 5 cents and save the balance, 
and you will soon be rich, and I will be so happy." 

Mrs. M. L. Jones. 




President of the 1908 Charity Club 
A noted Temperance worker, and an essay writer 



99 

Atlanta, Ga., reports for 1912 thirty-seven Negroes 
killed; seven killed by the blue-coat gunmen. See article. 

(The Atlanta Constitution, January 1, 1913.) 

"Tragedy stalked freely in Atlanta during 1912 and. in 
proportion to the alarming increase among the ranks of 
the pistol-toter, fifty-five homicides have occurred in the 
year, an unprecedented record since the war period. 

"Fifty-five deaths due to violence! This is an average 
of more than one a week — more than the city of London, 
with its millions of people. 

"Thirty-two of this number were shot. Seven were 
killed by policemen. Thirty-seven of the slain were Ne- 
groes. This number includes the five Negro women for 
whose deaths the police blame the uncaught 'Jack-the-Rip- 
per,' who terrorized the Negro section during the last of 
1911 and early part of 1912. 

"The startling growth of 'gunmen' is vividly shown in 
the figures of police court; 376 pistol-toters were bound over 
by Recorder Broyles. Two hundred and thirty-six of the 
gun-carriers were Negroes. Forty per cent of those ar- 
rested for the crime were minors, and a deplorable number 
were under the age of 18. Fifty or more were women. 

"Six of the number killed by policemen were burglars, rob- 
bers and prisoners. The case of E. H. Parham, who shot 
and killed Henry B. Wright, the Bellwood Avenue youth who 
fled when Parham attempted to arrest him for suspected lar- 
ceny, is now pending in the courts. The other officers 
were exonerated by grand and coroner's juries. 

"Policeman J. W. Camp, who killed his roommate, Police- 
man S. A. Belding, in an altercation that occurred in their 
Central Avenue apartments, was acquitted by the courts. 
His plea was self-defense. Later he was discharged from 
the department for drunkenness. 

"No Comparative Figures. 

"No definite comparison can be made with the homicide 
record of 1912 and previous years, owing to the laxity of 
record-keeping in the police department. The record for 
the outgoing year was compiled by Assistant Chief Jett and 
Night Clerk B. F. Hall on their own initiative. 

"The increase in killings has inspired police and court 
officials to express unanimous disapproval of the sale of 
firearms. Realizing that the effectual method of dealing 
with the man-killer is to deprive him of his weapon, judges, 
police authorities and criminologists have endeavored as a 



100 

unit to devise means by which the pistol and similar 
weapons will be done away with. 

"The suggestion of Recorder Broyles has met with wide 
approval. His plan to impose a tax so heavy upon dealers 
in firearms that they will find weapons a profitless stock 
has been accepted as a good one. In a recent interview, 
Judge Broyles named $10,000 annually as the proper figure. 

"State Law Is Suggested. 

"State statutes prohibiting the sale of firearms have also 
been suggested." 

Atlanta has made killing a business, and especially that of 
Negroes. She stands at the head of her class, and the strong 
arm of the law cannot stop her. But the little dog in the 
fight will not always stand to be kicked around, all the time, 
and killed. Some day he will bite. 

While many poor innocent Negroes are being lynched 
all over the country, it is being offset by suicide. Who 
knows but what it is God's way? Suicide is nothing more 
than a sinful life. What truly converted person ever com- 
mitted suicide? My brother, there is ho way to down the 
Negro. He has employed Jesus on his case. He has never 
lost a case. See general report, Houston Post, January 5, 
1913: 

"Statistics recently compiled show that during the year 
1911 15,000 men, women and children committed suicide. 
With one exception, that of San Diego, Cal., a New York 
city, Elmira, shows the highest suicide rate, it being 47.8' 
per 100,000 population, against a general average of all 
other cities of 19.6. The percentage of San Diego was 59.9. 
In Greater New York there were 788 suicides in 1911. 
The facts disclosed by the statistical analysis show further 
that during 1911 the suicide rate in relatively small Ameri- 
can cities was higher than in the large cities, says the New 
York Sun. 

"There is reason to suspect that the cost of living, which 
has increased so greatly in recent years, is in part responsi- 
ble for the suicide of many of those who determined to en- 
gage no longer in the battle for existence. Frederick L. 
Hoffman, actuary of the Prudential Life Insurance Com- 
pany and one of the best known statisticians in the United 
States, from whose recent report these figures are taken, 
strongly urges that some concerted action be taken without 
delay to check the tendency toward suicide in this country. 

"The common belief that in a large number of suicides 
there is a pre-existing condition of unsoundness of mind, 



101 

Mr Hoffman says, unquestionably has much evidence in its 
favor, aside from the statistical returns from Prussia, ac- 
cording to which 27.2 per cent of the suicides were directly 
or indirectly the result of mental disease. 

"Mercer, in his treatise on 'Sanity and Insanity,' takes 
exception to this view. He says: 

'"It is often assumed not only by the verdicts of cor- 
oners' juries, but in the writings and speeches of thoughtful 
men that a person who commits suicide must necessarily be 
insane at the time of the act. In his opinion I do not share, 
it seems to me that a man's circumstances may be such that 
he may upon careful and comprehensive review of them 
deliberately conclude that life is not worth living and that 
it is better to seek annihilation, or to take chance of happi- 
ness or unhappiness in a future life, than to submit to cer- 
tain and extreme misery in this. 

" 'Suppose that a man is subject to a combination of ad- 
verse circumstances ; that his wife has run away from him, 
his daughters have disgraced him, his sons have robbed 
him; that his business is a failure and that he is afflicted 
with some horrible and incurable disease. Who will say 
that for a man so situated to shorten the poor and misera- 
ble remnant of life remaining to him is an act of insanity? 

" 'He has to take his choice of evils. Even granting that 
by choosing to put an end to himself, to throw down his 
fardel and refuse longer to grunt and sweat under a weary 
life, he chooses wrongly and unwisely, yet does the wrong 
and unwisdom of such a course amount to insanity? Surely 

not. 

" 'There are strong reasons for believing that this class 
of persons is rapidly on the increase in the United States 
under the complex conditions of American life,' Mr. Hoff- 
man asserts. Moral education, he believes, is largely re- 
sponsible for social and moral discontent. The considerable 
amount of publicity which is given to suicide through the 
press and the means by which life is voluntarily brought 
to an end, he believes, imply a most serious menace to the 
community on the well established basis of the psychology 
of suggestion. 

"A critical analysis of individual cases of suicide pre- 
sents unusual difficulties because of the fact that in many 
cases essential information concerning the immediate or 
contributory causes is absent, Mr. Hoffman says. The in- 
creasing complexity of modern life favors mental and moral 
discontent, which is often erroneously assumed to be identi- 
cal with mental irresponsibility. The more thoroughly 
the underlying causes of suicide are considered, however, 



102 

the stronger becomes the conviction that in a large number 
of suicides the crime was a result not of a want of mental 
balance, but rather of a deliberate conviction that continued 
existence would not be worth while because of disappoint- 
ment in the realization of material aims or in the certainty 
of serious consequences of wrongtul acts. 

"Whatever may have been true of suicide in the past it 
is a practical certainty that self-murder is today relatively 
common among men, and even young women who cannot 
be considered as wanting in mental balance or to be even 
within the category of the only half sane. 

"The method of suicide has an important bearing on the 
subject in its larger aspects, for suicides, it is agreed by 
medical authorities, are unquestionably to a considerable 
extent the result of suggestion. Granted convenient or easy 
facilities for self-murder, the deed is often done before there 
has been time for reflection. It is nothing short of an in- 
dictment of our common sense, Mr. Hoffman charges, that 
the facilities for suicide should be as common as they are. 

"Regardless of the efforts that have been made to regu- 
late the sale of weapons and poisons, it is easy to secure 
the means of suicide at a drug or hardware store, pawnshop 
and other places. The effect of drastic regulation and pro- 
hibition in regard to the sale of poisons and deadly weapons 
would, it is believed by many, not alone diminish the sui- 
cide rate, but would bring about a material reduction in the 
homicidal rate. 

"While suicide is declared to be more prevalent in the 
Twentieth Century than in former times, doubtless as a 
result of the differing conditions under which people live 
in the present times, yet the practice of self-slaughter ex- 
isted even in Biblical times. 

"Among the stoics, whether Greek or Roman, Seneca was 
pre-eminent as an advocate of suicide. He did not content 
himself with reserving it for desperate emergencies, but 
advised it for almost any evil. 

"Epictetus, whom Mayor Gaynor so greatly admires and 
so often quotes, observed : 'Either live contentedly or be- 
gone, but do not let your life be a tissue of peevish com- 
plainings. When the game palls on children, note how soon 
they give it up. Do the same with life ; live so long as it is 
agreeable to you ; take your exit when it is intolerable. 
The door is open ; go if you do not wish to suffer, but if you 
deliberately choose to stay don't complain. A little smoke, 
though, ought not to frighten you away. Be patient a 
while and the trouble may pass.' 

"Under the Greek and Roman laws, which regarded the 



103 

citizen in the light of his value to the State, attempted 
suicide was punished as a political offense, when punished 
at all. Similar legal penalties were in force against self- 
murder in the age of Plato and Aristotle. 

"The wisdom of the New York law against attempted 
suicide, which has been in existence for some years, has often 
been questioned. It has been cited as an instance of cruel 
legislation which would add to the trouble of those already 
suffering from great mental strain from whatever cause. 
Others declare that the fear of legal punishment has a gen- 
erally wholesome curbing effect on the minds of those who 
may be thinking of suicide. 

"To those whose minds suicide occurs as a means of re- 
lease from misfortune or the consequences of their crimes 
the observations of Dr. Samuel Johnson of London as re- 
lated by Boswell are perhaps the best that can be offered. 
Boswell, in relating the incident some time later, said : 

" 'We talked of a man's doing away with himself. Dr. 
Johnson observed : "I shall never think it time to make 
away with myself." I replied, "Take the case of Eustace 
Budgell, who was accused of forging a will and threw him- 
self into the Thames River before the trial of its authenticity 
came on. Suppose sir," I said, "that a man is absolutely 
sure that if he lives a few days longer he shall be detected 
in a fraud the consequences of which will be utter disgrace 
and expulsion from society, what should he do?" 

" ' "In that case," Johnson replied, "let him go abroad 
to a distant country. Let him go to some place where he 
is not known. Don't let him go to the devil where he is 
known." ' " 

Mississippi Red, it seems, has been arrested. It seems that 
Red beat this officer shooting. All the Harrisburg officers 
are quick to kill a Negro, with a little exception. The 
writer was told that officers made three shots at Red when 
Red was about to run, so Red pulled his gun and made one 
shot. See Chronicle, January 4, 1913: 

"Sheriff Frank Hammond and Special Officer Frank 
Hamer are expected to arrive in Houston this afternoon 
with Matt Young, alias 'Mississippi Red,' a Negro, alleged 
to have killed Constable Isham Isgit of Harrisburg about 
eighteen months ago. The Negro was arrested near the 
Mississippi River in Louisiana, in the swamps, where he 
was at work in a railroad grading camp. 

"About three weeks ago the sheriff's office took up the 
case and located Young near Mellville. The place was for- 
merly known as Red Cross. An investigation led the offi- 
cers to believe that the right man had been found and two 



104 

days ago the officers went there. A reward of $250 was 
offered some time ago by Governor Colquitt for the arrest 
of Isgit's slayer." 

A very nice article from the Galveston Tribune, copied 
by the Houston Chronicle January 4, 1913, concerning the 
South Carolina governor. See article: 

"Governor Cole L. Blease of South Carolina, who has on 
several occasions taken possession of the spotlight and se- 
cured for himself a brand of notoriety not generally sought 
after by those who desire to have their names handed down 
to posterity, appears to like the atmosphere he has created 
and is continuing to acquire fame as the man who uses the 
power and prestige of his high office to break down and 
render impotent the laws he has, as chief magistrate of his 
State, sworn to uphold. Not that he has become lawless 
in his personal life, but one need not become a thief to en- 
courage the crime of theft, nor need a governor declare 
the laws suspended governing capital punishment to create 
the impression that so far as their full enforcement is 
concerned they are a dead letter." 

Governor Blease has no regard for the law. He said 
he would set free any mob accused of lynching a Negro. 
He could not have told the mob any plainer to go ahead and 
kill Negroes as an occupation. 

(From The Crisis, published in New York, December, 1912.) 

"CRIME. 

"The political campaign seems to have lessened lynch- 
ings for a while. Since our last record there have been 
but two. 

"In Americus, Ga., a Negro railroad hand, Yarborough, 
was hanged for alleged assault upon a white child. At 
Birmingham, Ala., Frank Childress, alias "Will Smith,' was 
shot to death by a mob after he had killed a city detective. 

"Continual reports appear in the press of white men 
being discovered in crime with blackened faces. In New 
York three such men killed a butcher on 176th Street. 

"The killing of colored men by policemen still goes on. 
Such murders are reported this month in New York City 
and two in Birmingham, Ala. In two of these cases there 
did not seem to be the slightest justification. 

"In Philadelphia a policeman murderously assaulted Dr. 
Thomas G. Coates for remonstrating at the beating of an- 
other colored man. 



105 

"Murders of colored people by white men are reported 
in three cities. 

"In Frederick, Md., Harry Thomas was shot dead by W. 
J. Lewis. Lewis said that Thomas was stealing. In Win- 
ston, N. C, Oscar Fisher, 'a prominent livery man and 
popular citizen of this city,' killed one of his colored em- 
ployes because he asked for his wages. At Chubb, in Polk 
County, Fla., a Negro, Jack Smith, was shot and killed by 
a white man because the man was afraid of him. There 
were no arrests. 

"In Asheville, N. C, B. Hensley, a young white man, has 
been sent to jail for sixteen months for assaulting a colored 
man. 

"Some months ago a colored man in Georgia accidentally 
touched a white woman with one of his hands. He was ar- 
rested, charged with assault, and an attempt was made to 
lynch him. He was hurriedly tried, found guilty, and 
Judge A. W. Fite sentenced him to twenty years in the 
penitentiary. The Court of Appeals granted' him a new 
trial. At this trial the prisoner was again found guilty 
and the same judge gave him the same sentence. The 
Court of Appeals again reversed Judge Fite, who pro- 
ceeded to make uncomplimentary remarks about the court. 
The court thereupon fined him for contempt." 

(The Crisis, New York, December, 1912.) 
'LEGAL REDRESS. 



<<i 



"A letter was sent Governor Donaghey of Arkansas 
thanking him for commuting the sentence of Robert Arm- 
strong. Mention of this case appeared in the last Crisis. 

"In response to a letter from the governor of West Vir- 
ginia, calling his attention to the article in the Independent 
of October 10, in regard to the lynching of Robert Johnson, 
the following reply was received from Governor Glasscock : 
'I am in receipt of your favor of October 16, and also 
copy of the Independent, of October 10, in relation to the 
recent lynching at Bluefield, in this State. You ask if the 
State of West Virginia intends to let the murder of John- 
son go unavenged or without thorough investigation on the 
part of the State authorities. In reply I beg to say that I 
had started a company of militia to Princeton on the night 
of the lynching and had given orders to the troops to re- 
port at Princeton just as soon as I had information that the 
local authorities might not be able to control the situation 
and prevent the lynching. However, before the troops could 



106 

get there the lynching occurred. I then took the matter up 
with the prosecuting attorney and the judge of the Crimi- 
nal Court of that county, and asked for a special grand 
jury to investigate the matter, and the grand jury, after 
being in session for a week, adjourned without returning 
any indictments. This, however, does not prevent future 
grand juries from returning indictments, and I assure you 
that I shall do everything within my power to see to it 
that the guilty parties are punished, and have so notified 
the local authorities, and have also made arrangements 
with the legal authorities to furnish them with any funds 
necessary to make a proper investigation. 

"I am as much opposed to lynching as your association 
can possibly be, and during my term of office have pre- 
vented four lynchings; on one occasion appearing myself 
in person with a company of militia and personally direct- 
ing the movements of the troops. I am sure that if I had 
been informed a few hours earlier of the seriousness of the 
situation I could have prevented this disgrace to the State." 

(Houston Post, January 5, 1913, dealing with the Consti- 
tution.) 

"The Post has received a booklet written by Rev. William 
Hayne Leavell, D. D., LL. D., in which he discussed and af- 
firms the wisdom of testing the validity of the Fifteenth 
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. 

"Dr. Leavell, who now resides in Carrollton, Miss., is well 
known to the people of Houston and of Texas, having for 
many years been pastor of the First Presbyterian Church 
of this city. In scholarly attainments he ranks among the 
highest, and it easily goes "that he is among the South's 
most patriotic sons. 

"In the discussion of the proposition of the repeal of the 
amendment, Dr. Leavell takes the position that it was never 
legally adopted and judicial interpretation of the legality 
of its adoption has never been had. He, therefore, suggests 
that it is perfectly practicable to bring the whole question 
of the constitutionality of the amendment before the Su- 
preme Court of the United States for its decision. 

"In this connection he submits the following plan: 'Let 
the Legislature of any one of the States enact a law di- 
rectly contravening the provisions of the amendment, un- 
mistakably discriminating against the Negro because of his 
race or color, and let an accredited officer of the State un- 
dertake to enforce that law, and almost certainly you will 
have its validity tested before the courts, and finally before 



107 

the Supreme Court of the United States itself. If 
for any reason, the improbable should really happen, and 
nobody should actually take the question up to the Supreme 
Court of the Nation, we would in that case and in the sim- 
plest possible way, regain the right of the State to regulate 
the whole matter of suffrage within its borders. Then every 
State that wanted to do so could place such restrictions 
round the ballot as would exclude from the polls every 
black, or other unqualified citizen.' 

"The booklet contains upward of fifty quarto pages, mak- 
ing a very strong argument in support of a policy which 
many thoughtful Southern men, both in public and private 
life, believe ought to be pursued without further delay as 
one which would redound to the welfare of the whole 
country, the Negro included." 

No Christian gentleman will work against the Negro. 
And any one doing so has prejudice in his heart against 
the Negro. I would not want to be in Heaven where these 
people were, if it were possible for them to be there. I 
shall not be over-concerned, for they will never be there. 
To enter Heaven one must have or possess a peaceable and 
loving heart. No man or set of men who make it a daily 
study how to down the Negro can ever hope to see God's 
face in peace. It is nothing more than a malignant heart. 
Why not try to help him up? What the white man does 
may embarrass the Negro temporarily, but to permanently 
down the Negro is impossible. Might as well try to pump 
the ocean dry or bridge the Atlantic ocean. It cannot be 
done, either. 

(The sporting world is against color line — Houston Post, 
January 5, 1913.) 

' 'It is noted that McCarey in announcing the advent of 
his heavyweight tournament declared that the winner 
would be presented with a belt emblematic of the white 
heavyweight championship. This is all right as far as it 
goes, but it doesn't go quite far enough. It would be a 
very pleasant thing if the color line were drawn in all 
classes, particularly pleasant for pale-faced gladiators who 
know what tough game is to be found in the ranks of the 
dusky brigade. But there is absolutely no precedent for 
establishing such a color line. Negroes have battled within 
the ropes from the days of the London prize ring and the 
bare knuckle swatting clear through to the milder regime 
of the Queensbury sport, and battled with credit to them- 
selves and backers,' says George T. Pardy, in the Chicago 
Inter Ocean. 



108 

" 'And getting right down to basic facts you will find 
that on the whole the behavior of the brunette scrappers 
was every whit as commendable, and in a great many cases 
far more so, than their white contemporaries. Because 
one burly brute, with the passions of a satyr, and the brains 
of a chimpanzie, has disgraced his race and the profession 
of fisticuffs, is no reason why we should forget that Peter 
Jackson, George Dixon and Joe Gans, to say nothing of nu- 
merous minor lights of their kind, were not only good box- 
ers, but popular citizens, and that, at the present time, Sam 
Langford and Joe Jeannette are possessed of reputations 
that have suffered no injury in or out of the ring. 

" 'The last two mentioned fighters, by the way, are the 
dreaded obstacles in the path of the victory to be evolved 
from McCarey's competition for white heavyweights. Yet 
there is this consolation — neither one is deemed by the ex- 
perts as dangerous as a year ago. Jeannette is 32, Lang- 
ford 27. Jeannette has been boxing since he was 23, while 
Langford entered the ring at the youthful age of 16. Amer- 
ican sportsmen and boxers who saw Langford perform in 
Australia, where he is at present, declare that the Boston 
tar baby has slowed up a whole lot, and no longer possesses 
the formidable punch that sloughed many an aspirant to 
heavyweight honors in the past. 

" 'It would not be surprising if this were true. Athletes 
who take up the strenuous game of flying gloves early in the 
teens usually wither before they reach the 30-year mark, 
a result due to constant training and the strain of repeated 
batterings sustained in the ring. Jeannette has been 
through some terrific grueling sessions, most of his con- 
tests having been over long distance routes — such as the 
battles with McVey, one lasting forty-nine and the other 
thirty rounds. His constitution is beginning to feel 
the strain of incessant milling, and in the natural order of 
things some husky youth is bound to do a McCarty "elimi- 
nation" stunt with him sooner or later. There is talk of 
Jeannette going to Australia to meet Langford. The lat- 
ter is acknowledged as McVey's master, having whipped 
him several times, and it would be a mighty good thing 
if Sam and Joe were to decide once and for all who is the 
better man. The victor could then return here and take 
a chance against the white champ who would by then 
be hailed as top-dog in the slamming field of endeavor. 

" 'Certain it is that some such schedule will have to be 
"followed. You simply cannot ignore the claims of Jean- 
nette and Langford to be taken into consideration when 
discussing the heavyweight championship problem. Both 



109 

have earned their standing in the world of pugilism, and 
are not to be impolitely shoved aside on a mere color line 
plea. That plea never did get by in the sparring game, 
even when advanced by so popular ah idol as the great and 
only John L. Sullivan. John dodged Peter Jackson when 
the latter was in his prime by putting up a dignified "color 
line" excuse, and was roundly cussed from one end of the 
country to the other for so doing. The cold unvarnished 
truth of the matter was that Sullivan realized what an ugly 
customer Peter was, and took preventive measures accord- 
ingly. 

" 'In the light of after events Sullivan's action loomed 
up as discreet, if not valorous, for Peter, although handi- 
capped by a game leg, held Jim Corbett to a 61-round draw, 
and the latter took John's crown away from him. No! 
the holder of a championship must be prepared to meet all 
comers, white or black, brown, magenta, green or ecru 
colored. It isn't a question of caste ; it's a trial of strength, 
agility and gameness, and whenever you hear a profes- 
sional boxer refusing to meet a Negro opponent, you can 
safely bet that the keeping of his own thin skin intact is 
what troubles him, not the shade of the epidermis pertain- 
ing to the other mitt-basher.' " 

(From the Houston Chronicle, January 7, 1913.) 
"THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT. 

"Something like eighteen months ago the Chronicle re- 
viewed a pamphlet by the Rev. William Hayne Leavell, D. 
D., LL.D., entitled 'The Annulment of the Fifteenth Amend- 
ment — A Discussion.' The time for the issuance of 
the publication proved to be inopportune by reason of 
the fact that it came from the press at a time when the in- 
tensely heated campaign for United States Senator between 
Mr. Vardaman and the other aspirants was in progress, 
and the fact that Mr. Vardaman was a strenuous advocate 
of the repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment led many people 
to believe that Dr. Leavell's pamphlet was a campaign doc- 
ument, intended to affect the result of that campaign. 

"Nothing was farther from his purpose, but the error 
into which many fell greatly lessened the influence and 
value of the publication, which has recently been reissued 
in an enlarged form. 

"There are doubtless those whom the suggestion of the 
repeal of the Fifteenth Amendment will fling into a frenzy 
of passion, and there are others who, while they will not 



110 

be so affected, will pronounce the idea chimerical and vis- 
ionary; but no man, North or South, should pass upon the 
question until he has read Dr. Leavell's pamphlet. 

"It is a calm, dispassionate, logical, instructive discus- 
sion of a subject of profound interest, and one -which many 
people are giving the thoughtful and serious consideration 
which it deserves. 

"Dr. Leavell holds that, while 'the means resorted to for 
the purpose of escaping the evils of Negro suffrage were 
necessary and have been held not to contravene the pro- 
visions of the Fifteenth Amendment, we have been 
forced to make use of means whose moral quality is not 
easily defended from the standpoint of Christian ethics or 
that of the permanence of civil liberty.' 

"Dr. Leavell expresses the view that, while there is no 
blinking the fact that this course costs us much in the mat- 
ter of morals and religion, yet so long as it is essential to 
our self-preservation and to the maintenance of white su- 
premacy we will persist in the employment of such methods 
at whatever cost. 

"While the argument is condensed into as brief space 
as is consistent with thorough discussion, it is impossible 
within the reasonable limits of editorial space to analyze it 
with that thoroughness which its merits demand, so it 
must suffice to condense the main points. 

"The repeal of the amendment is advocated as the sim- 
plest and most efficient way to insure continued white su- 
premacy, and to avoid even the possibility, however remote, 
of intermingling in any way of the two races. 

"The contention is made that the amendment was never 
legally adopted, and the argument in support of the con- 
tention is unanswerable. 

"John Mabry Mathews of Johns Hopkins University, in 
his 'Legislative and Judicial History of the Fifteenth 
Amendment,' says : 'In the technical sense the amendment 
is still a part of the supreme law of the land, but as a mat- 
ter of social consciousness, a rule of conduct, no matter 
how authoritatively promulgated, if not supported by the 
force of public opinion, is already in process of repeal.' 

"The Fifteenth Amendment reads as follows: 'The 
rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not Be 
denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on 
account of race, color or previous condition of servitude,' 
and was, of course, part of the reconstruction legislation. 

"Those who enacted it did not believe the methods of its 
adoption would stand the test of scrutiny by the Supreme 
Court of the United States, so when the principle underly- 



Ill 

ing all reconstruction was about to come before the Supreme 
Court in the famous McCardle case from Mississippi Con- 
gress repealed the act which made review of the legislation 
possible. 

"Every decision of that great court upon questions simi- 
lar in any extent to those involved in the matter of the 
constitutionality of the amendment has been of such nature 
as to lead to the strong belief that the amendment will be 
held null and void. Every decision of the Supreme Court 
of the United States involving the South's political attitude 
toward the Negro has sustained the contention of her people. 

"The highest authorities hold that the right to regulate 
the exercise of the elective franchise, is one of the functions 
essential to the existence of a State, and the Federal Gov- 
ernment never had the right to interfere with the exercise 
of that function. 

"Dr. Leavell points out several practicable ways in which 
the question may be tested, but the simplest method will be 
for some State to enact a law directly contravening the pro- 
visions of the amendment, by unmistakably discriminating 
against the Negro because of his race or color, and let some 
accredited officer of the State attempt to enforce the law, 
and a test case will speedily arise. 

"Public sentiment, not only in the South, but in the North, 
is rapidly taking such direction as will lead to such action 
as will bring the question fairly before the Supreme Court." 

The Negro's wonderful progress within the past fifty 
years has troubled a great many white people, but I never 
thought the educated white preachers would ever try to 
block the Negro's progress. I shall not write at length on 
this article, because I feel little concerned over the article, 
from the fact they may impede the Negro's progress, but 
it will not be permanent, only temporary. The Negro's 
station in life is already fixed. God Himself has made the 
program, and all the prejudiced hearts and minds in the 
world cannot undo God's work. The signs of the times 
point toward the Negro's onward march. 

I believe every man has a calling. If his education is for 
the purpose of writing against the Negro, he will never live 
long enough to realize any good he has accomplished along 
that line, notwithstanding - he is prepared to reach the people 
from the pulpit, the platform and with his pen. 

He is in the State of Mississippi. He has plenty of com- 
pany. Vardaman and others are of Mississippi. 

"New York, Feb. 11. — Andrew Carnegie today presented 
$1,250,000 in a 4 per cent bond to the Carnegie Foundation, 



112 

to be devoted to the endowment of a 'division of educational 
inquiry and study.' 

"The gift makes permanent provision, it was announced, 
for studies hitherto conducted by the foundation out of its 
general funds, such as the recently conducted studies on 
medical education. The publicity given to these studies re- 
sulted in closing down many poorly equipped medical 
schools. 

" 'It shall be the function of the division of educational 
inquiry,' says Mr. Carnegie in a letter setting forth the 
terms of the new endowment, 'to conduct studies and to 
make investigations concerning universities, colleges, pro- 
fessional problems of education affecting the improvement 
of educational methods, the advancement of teaching or 
the betterment of educational standards, and in general to 
investigate and to report upon those educational agencies 
which undertake to deal with the intellectual and moral 
progress of mankind and to publish such results as the trus- 
tees may consider of value.' 

"The trustees of the foundation plan to make the first 
use of the additional funds in taking up at once 'studies 
upon legal education and its relation to the supply of law- 
yers and the cost of legal process.' " 

Mr. Andrew Carnegie would do well to spend $1,000,000 
to stop Judge Lynch in America. 

THE NEGRO HAS A WHITE FRIEND. 

(The Associated Press news.) 

"Judge William R. Hammond of Atlanta, Ga., called on 
the president-elect to urge support for the bill pending in 
Congress which would appropriate $250,000 for the celebra- 
tion in Philadelphia of the fiftieth anniversary of the sign- 
ing of the emancipation proclamation. The governor said 
he approved the objects of the bill and hoped it would be 
passed." 

President Wilson is not against the Negro, and no well 
posted Negro ever thought so. Tne Negro was not certain 
about his statesmanship, or whether the country would have 
confidence in his policy. He is a good man and an educated 
Christian gentleman. 

Below a Negro is accused of shooting a white man. It 
might have been a Negro, and it might have been a white 
man with a blacked face. 

(From the Houston Post, January 9, 1913.) 
"Corsicana, Tex., Jan. 8. — A traveling man of Dallas, whc 



113 

gave his name as Pat St. Cyr, was robbed and then shot in 
the arm here last night by a Negro footpad. 

"Mr. St. Cyr was stopping at the Commercial Hotel, near 
the Union Station, and at 10 o'clock went into that section 
of town east of the Houston & Texas Central Railroad on 
his return to the hotel about 10:30 o'clock. Mr. St. Cyr 
was accosted by the footpad a few hundred feet east of 
the depot and while on the sidewalk, a pistol was thrown 
into his face and he was ordered to hand over his money; 
that was done, the Negro getting about $10. The Negro 
then demanded his watch, and when St. Cyr refused and 
put his hand on the watch, the Negro shot him and fled. 
The wounded man went to the hotel and a physician was 
summoned, who found that he had an ugly flesh wound in 
the left arm about midway between the elbow and shoulder. 

"No bones were broken, and Mr. St. Cyr returned to Dal- 
las on the early train this morning. 

"So far no arrests have been made." 

FLORIDA MOB. 

I cannot see how an excited woman, fainting at the time, 
who doesn't know anything that is going on, can identify a 
Negro with any degree of certainty as being the right man 
without doubt. 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 7, 1913.) 

"Tampa, Fla., Jan. 6. — 'You may lynch this Negro, but 
only after you have killed me.' That was the ultimatum de- 
livered by Sheriff Galloway of Marion County to a crowd 
of white men, who gathered at the jail there last night to 
lynch J. J. Johnson, a Negro, who was arrested yesterday 
morning for criminally assaulting a white woman near 
Citra. The sheriff and three deputies, well armed, bluffed 
the crowd away from the jail. 

"The sheriff asked the governor for militia, and the gov- 
ernor ordered out the Ocala company, which now guards 
the jail. The grand jury will convene tomorrow to hear 
the evidence and a speedy conviction is certain as the Ne- 
gro's victim has identified him." 

GEORGIA MOB. 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 4, 1913.) 
"Thomson, Ga., Jan. 3.— (Special.)— The fatal wounding 
of Watt Baston, deputy sheriff and farmer, by a Negro 
whom he had arrested this afternoon, has started a deter- 



114 

mined posse in search of the fugitive, and serious trouble is 
feared if he is captured. 

"The Negro's wife is thought to have joined him after 
she had leveled a gun at Hunter Clary, son of Sheriff 
Clary, who shot at Butler after Baston was apparently- 
killed. 

"When the officer told the Negro he wanted him on a 
warrant charging theft of a mule, the Negro was so peace- 
able and quiet that Baston, turning to go to his buggy, neg- 
lected the precaution of placing the black in front of him. 
Without warning, Baston was suddenly knocked to the 
ground, the huge Negro on top of him, struggling to gain 
possession of the gun. 

"Baston Shot Twice in Face. 

"In the scuffle the officer was seriously bitten by the Ne- 
gro, and then struck on the head with the gun. As he 
turned to flee, Butler fired twice at Baston as he struggled 
to rise, both loads taking effect in the face, and inflicting 
what will probably be death wounds. 

"Clary ran to the assistance of his partner, and Butler 
fled. The young man shot twice, apparently hitting the 
Negro, but failing to stop him. Butler's wife turned her 
pistol on Clary as she saw her husband in clanger, but did 
not fire. She then fled in the direction her husband had 
gone. 

"Much excitement was caused by the report of the trag- 
edy, and efforts were made to secure dogs. A posse at once 
started out in pursuit. Baston was brought here, and is 
not expected to live." 

Negro preacher to hang; what is termed a legal trial. I 
hope before he leaves this land he will let the American 
people know the truth, whether guilty or not. I would 
rather see some kind of trial than a lynching. See the At- 
lanta Constitution, January 8, 1913 : 

"NEGRO TO BE HANGED FOR ASSAULTING 

WOMAN. 

"Ocala, Fla., Jan. 7. — One of the quickest trials ever 
held in Marion County, considering the seriousness of the 
offense, was concluded this afternoon, when Jim Johnson, 
a Negro, who criminally assaulted the wife of a prominent 
orange grower near Citra, Fla., Saturday afternoon, was 
given the death penalty. Only two hours and five minutes 
had elapsed when the verdict was rendered. 



115 

"About twenty of the local militia and four deputy sher- 
iffs escorted the Negro to and from the court room. Fully 
2,000 persons assembled about the court house, but only the 
prisoner's guard, court officials, attorneys and newspaper 
men were admitted to the court room during the trial Of- 
ficial papers will be sent to the governor's office tonight 
and it is believed the execution will take place next Friday.'' 

I shall take up this case again if I can get any more facts 
regarding it. 

After Jack Johnson. 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 10, 1913.) 
"JACK JOHNSON AT BAR ON SMUGGLING CHARGE. 

"Chicago, Jan. 9. — 'Jack' Johnson, Negro prize fighter, 
appeared today ready for trial on a charge of smuggling 
a diamond necklace valued at $6,000 into this country from 
Eugland two years ago. 

"Judge Carpenter continued the trial indefinitely and 
said he desired to dispose of the indictments charging the 
Negro with violation of the Mann white slave act before tak- 
ing up the smuggling case. 

"Johnson's friends said that he had begun training to re- 
enter the ring." 

"Chicago, Jan. 14.— First information of Jack Johnson's 
flight from Chicago was given by the publication in a local 
newspaper of a telegram from a passenger who recognized 
the Negro on the train. Acting on this, Charles S De- 
woody, superintendent of the department of justice in Chi- 
cago, traced the train on which Johnson was supposed to 
be traveling, and wired the police at Battle Creek to arrest 
him. 

"Shortly after his arrest Johnson called Superintendent 
Dewoody by telephone and explained that he had no inten- 
tion of staying in Canada or making an extended trip. He 
said he had no thought of violating the federal law, or of 
attempting to forfeit his $30,000 federal bond. 

"Johnson was indicted several months ago by the Fed- 
eral Court on several counts for alleged violation of the 
Mann act, and is at liberty on bonds. He is also charged 
with smuggling valuable jewelry into this country from 
Europe for his white wife, Mrs. Etta Johnson, who com- 
mitted suicide a few months ago. The latter case is 
pending. 

"Mann act violations are not extraditable, and for this 
reason Johnson had no right to leave this country, the fed- 



116 

?ral authorities assert. His payment on the train of cash 
fare to Toronto indicated his intent to go to Canada, say 
the police." 

"BACK TO JAIL. 



'Bond Will Be Canceled Pending Trial in United States 

Court. 

"Chicago, Jan. 14. — At a conference of federal officials 
t was decided to bring Johnson back to Chicago. The plan 
s to obtain a bench warrant for him as a fugitive and send 
;wo deputy marshals to Battle Creek to bring him back 
lome. 

"When he arrives, it is said, his bond will be canceled and 
;hat he will be held in iail without bail until his trial in the 
Federal Court." 

"AGAIN BEFORE THE COURT. 

'Johnson's Attorney Promised to Produce Him on 

Wednesday. 

"Chicago, Jan. 14. — When application was made to Fed- 
eral Judge Carpenter for a bench warrant for Johnson's 
irrest as a fugitive, the court declined to issue the warrant. 
\n attorney who appeared for Johnson said he would pro- 
luce his client in court tomorrow morning." 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 15, 1913.) 

"Chicago, Jan. 14. — Jack Johnson, the Negro heavy- 
veight pugilist, was taken to the county jail here tonight 
;o await the judgment of Federal Judge Carpenter as to 
vhether his bail bond of $30,000 should be forfeited. 

"When the pugilist's party, consisting of his white wife, 
;wo white secretaries and valet, reached here after being 
urned back at Battle Creek, Mich., from a Canada-bound 
rain, Johnson asked to talk over the telephone to Charles 
?. DeWoody, superintendent of the United States Depart- 
nent of Justice. At the conclusion of the conversation 
rohnson told Deputy Marshal Meyers that Mr. DeWoody 
would allow him to spend the night at his own home. 

"Meyers refused to accept the order unless from Mr. De- 
Woody direct. The pugilist and his retinue were taken in 
in automobile to Mr. DeWoody's residence. 

" 'Johnson, if you did not mean to stay out of the juris- 
liction of the Federal Court, why did you ship two ot your 
lutomobiles to Canada?' demanded Mr. DeWoody. The pu- 



117 

gilist hesitated in his reply, and Mr. DeWoody gave him 
his choice of being held in a hotel in charge of marshals or 
being taken to jail. Johnson chose the jail. 

"The first information of Jack Johnson's flight from 
Chicago was given by the publication in a local newspaper 
of a telegram from a passenger who recognized the Negro 
on the train. 

"Acting on this, Charles S. DeWoody, superintendent of 
Department of Justice in Chicago, traced the train on which 
Johnson was supposed to be traveling, and wired the police 
at Battle Creek to arrest him. 

"Shortly after his arrest, Johnson called Superintendent 
• DeWoody by telephone and explained that he had no inten- 
tion of staying in Canada or making an extended trip. He 
said he had no thought of violating the federal law or of at- 
tempting to forfeit his $30,000 federal bond. 

"Johnson was indicted several months ago by the Fed- 
eral Court on several counts for alleged violation of the 
Mann act, and is at liberty on bond. He is also charged 
with smuggling valuable jewelry into this country from 
Europe for his white wife, Mrs. Etta Johnson, who com- 
mitted suicide a few months ago. The latter case in 
pending. 

"Mann act violations are not extraditable and for this 
reason Johnson has no right to leave this country, the fed- 
eral authorities assert. 

"Johnson Denies Running Away. 

"Battle Creek, Mich., Jan. 14. — Jack Johnson, who, while 
en route for Toronto, was taken from a train here this 
morning at the request of United States officials, left for 
Chicago late today, accompanied by his wife and other 
members of his party. The pugilist was in charge of Bert 
J. Meyers, a federal officer. John was accompanied by his 
white wife and two Negro friends. 

"When taken from the train here, Johnson said he did not 
wish to violate any of the terms of the bond insuring his 
appearance in United States District Court, and simply 
intended to go to Toronto to consult with Tom Flanagan, 
his former manager, regarding a proposed fight with Al' 
Palzer in Paris. He claimed that the latter's manager had 
offered to arrange a fight for $25,000. 

"At no time did Johnson appear to take his arrest se- 
riously. He denied any intention of running away from 
the prosecution." 

I am not by any means impressed with Jack Johnson, if 



118 

uilty. Would a white citizen have been guilty under the 
ame facts, not under the same charge; the charge is the 
ase. If he beats the case, can there be a case made for 
im? What they need to do, possibly, is to change the so- 
ial law up there. It's not every time a Negro accompanies 

white girl or woman out of the State in a social way, he 
as violated the white slave act. It should be proven for 
'hat purpose it was done. And how is the public to know 
nless secret service men follow them? Men are daily go- 
ig from State to State with women who are not related. 
d them. Why make a case? First, stop whites and Ne- 
roes from social equality, and then make the laws. Hon. 
barter Harrison, mayor of Chicago, said : "I have been 
rying to find an excuse to close up Jack Johnson's cafe and 
un him out of the country." What they ought to do is to 
ive him a fair trial. They cannot afford to do anything 
lse. We want to see him get a fair trial, as any other cit- 
sen. 

The Sheol-bound man again upholding lynching. I be- 
ieve God will raise up a man to take his place. See Atlanta 
Constitution : 

"Columbia, S. C, Jan. 15. — The first near-clash between 
he opposing factions in the House of Representatives came 
his morning when G. R. Rembert, floor leader of the Blease 
orces, attempted to have a message of Governor Blease 
written in the journal. Governor Blease replied to the 
harges made against him at the investigation in Augusta. 
Ay. Nicholson of Spartanburg opposed the motion on the 
ground that it should be held as information until the re- 
tort of the investigating committee is made. 

"The governor also sent a special message to the Legisla- 
ure containing full stenographic reports of the three 
peeches he made in Richmond. They were received as in- 
brmation and will be printed in the journal. 

"Blease Defends Lynching Speech. 

"In his message transmitting the Richmond speech, Gov- 
ernor Blease says : 

" 'To the Honorable Members of the General Assembly 
>f the State of South Carolina. — Gentlemen : I herewith 
ransmit to you the official stenographic report of my 
ipeeches before the Conference of Governors, held in Rich- 
nond, Va., December 3 to December 6, 1912. This report 
s furnished me by Mr. L. D. Booth, the official stenog- 
rapher of the Conference of Governors, who is stenographer 



119 

for the State Corporation Commission of the Common- 
wealth of Virginia, with headquarters at Richmond. 

" 'So much has been said and so much has been written 
about the speeches which were delivered by me before the 
Governors' Conference, and such cowardly, infamous and 
foul editorials have been heralded throughout this country 
by various newspapers, that I desire to submit to you 
and my constituents in South Carolina exactly what 
I said in the three speeches, to-wit': the address on 
penology, the address on divorce, and the address on 
the resolution which is quoted below in connection with 
the three addresses, in order that you and the people 
of South Carolina may see that there was absolutely noth- 
ing said by me on that occasion in reference to lynch law, 
except what I have said all over South Carolina, time and 
time again. And I have never yet said it in South Caro- 
lina that it did not meet with round after round of applause 
from the best people of my State. 

" 'I care nothng for the .criticisms of Cubans, mixed- 
breeds, Negroes or Negro lovers. However, I want the de- 
cent element of South Carolina to see what I said, and to 
let them pass judgment on it for themselves. Furthermore, 
I want it to be made a part of the political history of my 
State, for I am proud of the views I expressed in these 
speeches, and stand by every word of them, and I am ready 
and willing to meet any man in this State or in the entire 
Nation, before the people of South Carolina, upon this issue. 

" 'Read what I said, and then think as you like about it. 
I have neither any excuse nor any apologies to make. Very 
respectfully. COLE L. BLEASE, Governor.' " 

TEXAS MOB— LYNCHING NO. 8. 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 18, 1913.) 

"Paris, Tex., Jan. 17. — Henry Mouzen, a Negro, who shot 
and killed the 12-year-old daughter of D. Morrell, a farmer, 
near Pecan Gap, a w r eek ago, was hanged from a telephone 
pole on the public square at Cooper, Texas, late today by a 
mob. The Negro was taken from the sheriff and his dep- 
uties near Cooper, after he had pleaded guilty and had been 
sentenced to be hanged. 

"Mouzen is said to have confessed that he shot at the 
girl's brother, with the intention of killing him, and then 
attacked the girl. The shot struck the girl. The boy was 
not hurt. 

"Mouzen's body was cut down early tonight, placed on 



120 

pile of railroad ties, saturated with coal oil and burned, 
'he Negro population of Cooper is excited tonight, but the 
rowds have left the town and no further violence is feared." 

This is some of the teachings of the South Carolina gov- 
rnor. 



CHAPTER VII. 

RAPE. 

Any person or persons guilty of rape should get the high- 
:st penalty of the law. I don't think any person should be 
mnished if it is not rape. Often free will and consent is 
ailed rape, and the accused must die. When the Negroes 
ire accused of rape, often the victim faints. I am up 
igainst it as to how they identify the right man, whether 
*vhite or colored. They don't know anything or that is 
foing on, otherwise it would only be an attempt, from the 
act the truth must come. There are but few men who can 
commit rape. An attempt can be made almost at any time 
>y any one who has such ambition, but the real thing is 
loubtful. However, too many white men have put black- 
ng on their faces in order to dodge behind the Negro in 
heir crimes. And in every case the mob can always find 
iome Negro who looks just like this white man in his mask, 
rhese conditions will have to change. 

I never have and never will desire social equality. Our 
vomen suit me. The white man is right about desiring 
to give his women the very best protection. The average 
Sfegro has the same desire, but he has no power. Look at the 
tumble case not long ago. A white man was in the bed 
vith a Negro's daughter in the Negro's own house. What 
vas the result? The Negro killed him and some of the poor 
vhite men wanted to kill the Negro. The Negro, as I have 
;aid, has no black slave law for the protection of his women. 
3e cannot appeal to the unwritten law. The Federal law 
las left his women out of the protection. Can he not pro- 
:ect his home? You allow a white man to protect his 
iome; why not a Negro? 

See the Atlanta Constitution. 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 13, 1913.) 

"Washington, Jan. 12. — Stanley O. Finch, who has been 
n charge of investigations instituted by the Department 
)f Justice in enforcing the white slave law, now is in com- 
munication with a group of philanthropists formulating 



121 

plans for a national movement to reclaim victims of the 
traffic. Mr. Finch has just returned from New York, 
where he consulted some of the leaders in the proposed 
philanthropy, and although he declined to discuss the de- 
tails of the plan he said no embarrassment for funds was ex- 
pected. It is understood John D. Rockefeller, Jr., is one 
of the principal financial supporters of the undertaking. 

"Home for the Girls. 

"While men who are convicted under the law receive ad- 
equate punishment, the problem of caring for their victims 
has from the first been the hardest one with which to cope. 
It is, therefore, the present plan to expend the income from 
a large permanent fund, which may amount to several mil- 
lions, in maintaining rescue homes in which girls who are 
reclaimed from the underworld may be given care and in- 
struction pending such time as may be necessary for them 
to get a new start in life. An effort then will be made 
to find honorable employment for them and a paternal in- 
terest will be taken in their subsequent careers. 

"Driven From City to City. 

"While there are some of these homes already in opera- 
tion, it is realized that there are not nearly as many as are 
needed. This fact has been brought home to social work- 
ers in recent times during wars upon restricted districts in 
many of the cities throughout the country. With no place 
to seek shelter, the women have been driven from city to 
city and their condition has been abject in the extreme. 

"The canvass which special investigators of the Depart- 
ment of Justice have been making of women who were lead- 
ing vicious lives will be continued, and it is expected eventu- 
ally that the department will have a detailed history of the 
inmates of segregated districts throughout the country. 
The project for the reclamation of all these women aims at 
establishing a sufficient number of homes', perhaps more 
than 2,000, in all parts of the country so that definite help 
may be offered to every woman who will consent to give up 
her past mode of life." 

THE SOUTHERN LAW. 

Is the Southern law a medium of justice to all citizens 
alike? 

I have been to some towns in the South, and upon the 
court houses I saw a woman with a pair of scales in her 



122 

hands, on a balance, indicating equal justice to all; but not 
so. If a white man is caught with a Negro woman, there 
is nothing to it. There is no law covering his case. If he 
holds a gun on her, there is nothing to it. But if a father 
or brother commits an act of the unwritten law ; if the mob 
fails to get him, twelve men will say he must die on a cer- 
tain date. But if a Negro is caught with a white woman, 
and she says she desires to be with him, he is vagged, if he 
be a millionaire. A law that cannot reach the white man 
when he is guilty of the same crime the Negro has been 
convicted of, is defective or unconstitutional. 

I believe every man ought to protect his sister or daugh- 
ter with his life's blood, if needs be! That's only the kin- 
dred ties. Disinterested persons can keep hands off. But 
an ignorant mob doesn't want any facts in a case; only a 
crime has been committed by a Negro, and the first Negro 
caught is the one wanted. It makes no difference if he was 
1,000 miles away when the crime was committed, he is the 
one wanted. 

What we want is a fair trial for the Negro, the same as 
a white man would get. See this case: 

(Houston Chronicle, January 8', 1913.) 

"Chattanooga, Tenn., Jan. 8. — John McLemore, W. E. 
Knight and Frank Hunter, on trial at Gaasden, Ala., charged 
with the murder of Jacob C. Lutes and wife, an aged couple, 
who were brutally murdered and robbed a year ago at Gal- 
lant, Ala., were given a verdict of not guilty late yesterday, 
Judge Herzberg holding that the evidence was insufficient 
to convict." 

The white man has from the local justice of the peace to 
the Supreme bench, all white. But God is the universal 
Supreme Judge over all. He will take care of the Negroes 
in due time. 

THE STATE CONSTITUTION. 

While some of the Southern States want a new constitu- 
tion in order to reach the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amend- 
ments, the North is helping the colored women to prepare 
for citizenship. See Associated Press news: 

(Houston Chronicle, January 6, 1913.) 
"Chicago, Jan. 6. — A meeting which had as its object the 
organization of the first Woman's Negro Suffragette Club 
in Chicago was held last night at Quinn Chapel. The gather- 
ing was under the auspices of the 'No Vote, No Tax League 



123 

of Illinois,' of which Miss Belle Squire is the moving spirit. 

"Miss Squire presided and introduced Miss Clara Gilli- 
land and Miss Antoinette Funk, who urged the Negro 
women to take an active part in the fight for equal suffrage. 
According to the speakers, the organization, if it is formed, 
will be the first of its kind in the country." 

There is nothing that helps the poor laboring Negro 
more than the bill before the Texas Legislature against 
thirty-cent money. Negroes all over the country have lost 
good jobs on account of the power of attorney. They con- 
tract to pay thirty cents on the dollar for thirty days, which 
is $3.60 per annum for $1.00. 

All the States are making laws against the loan sharks. 

"LOAN SHARK DOES SOME FIGURING IN JUDGE 

LANDIS' COURT. 

"Chicago, Jan. 25. — Inside facts concerning the opera- 
tions of loan agents were uncovered by Judge Landis today. 

" 'What rate of interest do you usually charge?' T. B. 
Heiv, manager of the National Loan and Trust Company, 
35 South Dearborn Street, when asked by the court. 

" 'Ten per cent a month,' replied the witness. 

" 'Please figure out therefrom the rate of interest on a 
loan of $50, payable in three months installment,' requested 
the judge. 

" 'It is 379 per cent,' said Heiv after figuring for some 
minutes. 

" 'I thought you were somewhat off when you told me 
ten per cent,' said the court." 

TEXAS LAW MAKERS TRYING TO STOP THIRTY- 
CENT MONEY. 

"After Loan Sharks. 

"Representative Brown of Harris County has prepared 
a bill which he will introduce today or tomorrow to prevent 
the practice of usury by loan agents in the State. The bill 
provides that all persons engaged in the loaning of money 
on wages to be earned, on mortgages on household goods, 
shall pay an occupation tax of $10,000 to the State and 
$5,000 to the county in which they do business, and give 
bond in the sum of $50,000 to the State, conditioned that 
they shall refund to all persons aggrieved all interest charged 
and collected over and above 10 per cent per annum of the 
amount loaned. 



124 

"It is proposed that the principal and sureties on the bond 
shall be liable to any person who has been required to pay 
a greater interest than the amount named in the bill, and 
shall also be liable for all damages sustained by reason of the 
loss of employment or sacrifice of property directly result- 
ing from the collection of the usurious debt or any attempt 
at collecting the same. 

"It is also provided that any person offending against 
the provisions of the bill shall forfeit his right to do busi- 
ness in Texas and pay a fine to the State double the amount 
of the bond, and any person whose right has been forfeited 
shall not be permitted to again engage in the business in 
Texas. 

"A similar bill was introduced in the last session, but 
was drawn in such a manner as to call into question its con- 
stitutionality. Mr. Brown will endeavor to meet the ob- 
jections of the former bill and if his measure passes, Texas 
may expect to see the passing of the so-called loan sharks." 

I hope the Supreme Court will let it stick, and some good 
fellow organize a poor man's bank. 

New York on Loan Sharks: 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 6, 1913.) 
HARD TIMES FOR LOAN SHARKS. 



a 



"New York has removed another stout prop from under 
the loan shark's structure of chicanery, and extortion. On 
November 8 the appellate division of the Supreme Court 
handed down a decision which rules 'that usurious loans are 
void as to both principal and interest, and if usury has ac- 
tually been paid the borrower may recover twice the excess 
paid in all transactions within a period of two years.' 

" The case,' says The Survey, 'grew out of a loan made to 
one Alexander Dunscomb by a lending concern which called 
itself the Royal company, and whose directors were Mark 
and Philip Sugarman and Frank C. Stratt. 

"Dunscomb had borrowed $47.50 and had paid the com- 
pany $2.50 a month for twenty payments. He used to go to 
the office each month, give them his salary of $50, and re- 
ceive back $47.50 of it — making him a new loan, they called 
it. Finally Dunscomb refused to pay more, and the Royal 
company sued. Dunscomb brought a counter suit to recover 
double the amount of usury he had paid. The municipal 
court allowed him double the amount of the last payment 
he had made. His counsel appealed on the ground that this 
was inadequate relief, and the result was the reversal by 



125 

the appellate division, granting recovery of double the sum 
of all payments.' " 

A Quick Trial in Mississippi. 

Only seven hours to convict a Negro from the time the 
crime was supposed to have been committed up to the jury's 
verdict, See the 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 22, 1913.) 

"Gulfport, Miss., January 21. — Within seven hours after 
he had shot and killed Chief of Police Charles Dickey today, 
Percy Newkirk, a Negro who had been trapped by the officer 
while in the act of burglarizing a store, was indicted by the 
county grand jury, tried on a charge of murder, convicted 
and sentenced to be hanged just one month from this date. 

"Chief Dickey was extremely popular and feeling against 
the Negro was intense. 

"Notwithstanding the quick justice meted out to the Ne- 
gro, a large and excited crowd thronged the streets near 
the courthouse and jail after the trial was concluded and 
threats of lynching were freely made. 

"Chief Dickey was killed at 4:30 this morning when he, 
with two other officers, attempted to arrest Newkirk and 
another Negro, whom they discovered in the storehouse of 
the Rolf Seeberg Ship Chandlery Company. Several citizens 
and officers surrounded the building and captured Newkirk, 
who confessed to the shooting after he was placed in jail. 
He was indicted at 9, placed on trial a half hour later, con- 
victed at 11 :15, after the jury had deliberated but three min- 
utes, and at 1 :20 he was under sentence of death. 

"Newkirk implicated another Negro, John Carr, who es- 
caped. The shotgun used in killing Chief Dickey was stolen 
just a week ago from a grocer in Biloxi, Miss/' 

I don't see how they had time to examine the witnesses 
in such a short time. The jury, no doubt, went in the box 
prepared for a verdict. No doubt the chief was a man that 
believed in beating Negroes over the head with his gun. 

Texas Railway Statistics. 

The largest verdict ever returned in Texas on account of 
a railroad accident was for $35,000. The plaintiff in that 
case was an able-bodied, energetic, successful business man, 
who lost both legs. 

A few years ago what was called the tunnel accident oc- 
curred in New York, and one verdict arising out of that 
accident was $30,000, another $60,000 and another $100,000. 
One plaintiff recovered in Massachusetts $45,000. 



126 

In the year ending June 30, 1912, there were killed on 
and by the railroads of the United States 10,585, while 169,- 
538 were injured — an increase in fatalities of 189 and of 
injuries 19,739 over the preceding year. Of 18,215 derail- 
ments in that year, 1877 were caused by defects of the rail- 
ways and 3847 by defective equipment. 

In a letter under date of December 18, from the Hon. W. 
D. Williams, one of the railroad commissioners of Texas, 
written to a well known lawyer of North Texas, it is stated 
that for the year ending June 30, 1912, there were killed and 
injured in Texas on and by railroads: 

Trainmen killed, 44; injured, 1555. Switchmen, flagmen 
and watchmen killed, 66;' injured, 593. Other employes 
killed, 66; injured, 3781. Total employes killed, 126; in- 
jured, 5929. Passengers and other persons killed, 3; in- 
jured, 820. Trespassers killed, 171; injured, 237. Others 
killed, 32; injured, 296. Grand total killed, 332; injured 
7282. 

It is contended that with approximately the same railroad 
mileage in the British empire less than half a dozen persons 
were killed and less than 200 injured in the same length of 
time. * 

(Atlanta Constitution.) 

"Bicycle Officer M. C. Folds, who, on the night of Decem- 
ber 16, shot and killed Cave Daniels, a Negro, was released 
on $5,000 bond yesterday afternoon following a hearing be- 
fore Judge W. D. Ellis, of the superior court. More than 
thirty men appeared in court to testify to the good character 
of the officer. 

"That Daniels had been drinking and was partially intoxi- 
cated when the trouble arose between him and the officer 
was the statement of E. M. Gay, a Negro youth, who wit- 
nessed the killing. The story of the happenings that led up 
to it, as drawn from the statements of Officer Folds and 
two Negroes, was highly favorable to the plea of self-defense 
as originally claimed by the officer. 

"It was to the effect that the sounds of shots in the neigh- 
borhood of 100 Fraser street, where a 'chitlin' party was 
going on, had drawn the policeman there. A Negro whose 
head was bleeding asked him to arrest C. B. Shell, another 
Negro, whom he claimed had struck him. Folds did this, 
and Shell asked to prove by inmates of the house that it had 
been an accident. This led the policeman and his prisoner 
to the porch of the house. Here he ordered several Negroes to 
cease whistling in reply to signals up the street. Daniels 
interfered and drew a fork upon Officer Folds, who pulled 
out his pistol and forced him to drop it. As the officer 



127 

reached for his electric light, Daniels struck him on the head 
with his fist. In the scuffle the Negro threw him down, took 
his billy away and struck at his head with it. After order- 
ing the Negro to get up to no avail, the policeman pulled his 
pistol out and killed him. 

"Attorney Carl Hutchinson, who is said to have been em- 
ployed to assist the prosecution by members of the Grady 
hospital staff, where Daniels formerly worked as an orderly, 
took no active part in the case. 

"The bond as finally approved by Deputy Plennie Miner, 
was signed by R. S. Osborne, Police Captain W. M. Mayo, 
Police Sergeant A. D. Luck, A. N. Cook, George G. Garner 
and Harry G. Poole. 

"With Officer Folds in court were his wife and two chil- 
dren: Gladys, aged 9, and Richard, aged 6. Chief Beavers 
stated last night that he will remain suspended from the 
force pending the action of the police commission." 

This officer killed a Negro in Atlanta, Ga., and brought 
his little children in court for sympathy of the court. The 
State's attorney acting, refused to take part in the case 
against the Negro killer. 

That's playing out. The Negro is getting tired of being 
kicked around. I have no special facts in this case. But as 
a rule, I know the Negro, and I know a poor white man with 
a gun. When he thinks he is among coward Negroes, he 
will hit and kick everyone who fails to put his hat under 
his arm and say, "Marse John, I will tell you all I know 
about it." I don't believe in any Negro being bad, and neith- 
er do I see any cause for one man to be afraid of another, 
if both are equally prepared. No law-abiding citizen should 
resist an arrest, but he should resist a beating at the cost of 
his life, if he has that ambition. You notice those people 
who will kick a poor dog around, will never kick a bull dog 
around. Take for instance "Mississippi Red," a good fel- 
low until someone would do something to him. Well, he 
w T ould gamble, and the lawmakers will do the same. The 
Negro knows the white man has got the jury, the courts, 
from the little justice court to the Supreme Court, sheriffs 
and everv organized mob, and if an officer arrests one with- 
out beating him he will" not get killed. But brave Negroes 
are selling out all over the country now. 

An unsigned article in Chronicle, January 26, 1913: 

The Negro Problem. 

"To the Editor of The Chronicle. 

"Anyone who has been a constant reader of The Chronicle 
as I have been from its beginning would not fail to notice 



128 

the continued growth of the paper, both in its physical as- 
pect and in the strength and tone of its editorial influence. 
Many of your readers, among them myself, have not failed 
to admire the strong note of numanitarianism that runs 
steadily through the editorial policy of The Chronicle. The 
Chronicle strikes a note that rings true and clear for hu- 
manity — except in the matters affecting the large mass of 
the South's population made up by the Negroes. 

"Like many others of your readers there have been times 
when I have felt a desire to express appreciation for the 
broad and noble sentiments expressed through the editorial 
columns of The Chronicle, but I have never before expressed 
this appreciation in writing. I want to thank you for the 
excellent review of the poem, 'The Kings,' by Miss Louise 
Imogen Guiney, in the issue of the 4th instant. The poem 
itself will strike the heartstrings of many thousands of pri- 
vates struggling in the ranks, their 'sires already beaten try- 
ing with broken saber to rise on the last redoubt.' It re- 
minded me much of Kipling's similar poem, 'If.' The poetess 
touches the greatest depths of pathos and sweeps the loftiest 
heights of sublimity — and it was not surprising to me that 
you should harmonize with the great note of the song. 

"In the month of November, I think it was, The Chronicle 
produced an editorial on the suicide of the white wife of 
Jack Johnson. In philosophical truth, in practical fact, in 
all that tends to portray error and point out the right, to 
enthrone righteousness and tear down the wrong, the edi- 
torial could not have been excelled. Every right-thinking 
Negro — and they are legion — agreed with you. 

"The other side of the equation is what the writer would 
give much to have you see. As a Negro, it seems to me that 
the Negro is not only left out of all consideration from a 
standpoint of humanitarianism, but that he is actually dis- 
credited by the South's greatest force for good or evil — the 
press. I am taking the liberty to ask you directly if you 
do not think it is a mistake, looked at from any angle, for 
the presfc of the South to hold up to the world only the dis- 
creditable side of the Negro? It is to the credit of the race 
that Jack Johnson's conduct has been unanimously disap- 
proved and denounced by the Negroes. It is to our credit 
that even the Negro lawyers refused to defend him when 
'they saw the nature of his offense. It is to our credit that 
we disapprove of the widespread concubinage of white men 
and black women and ostracize these women socially. Yet 
of these things the great Anglo-Saxon press is mute. 

"On this latter question the South has pursued a course 
that is damning. Even in the city of Houston, where in- 



129 

creasing thousands of white women and girls are daily la- 
borers and where the wage scale is barely sufficient to sup- 
port the individual, the strong men of your race do not seem 
to realize that this evil not only lies at the root of the labor 
problem for white women and girls, but is sapping the life- 
blood of the family relation. 

"These are strange things to the thoughtful Negro, raised 
in the South and taught to obey and respect the laws — 
written and unwritten. It is strange to us that as a rule the 
white press will feature our misdoings, but will studiously 
keep its columns clear of the nice things that we try to do 
from day to day. It is strange that the local editor will 
report the chicken thieves and burglars, the purse-snatchers, 
etc., but would not insert a church directory notice. It is 
strange that you plead so eloquently the brotherhood of 
man, the amelioration of adverse conditions, the beauty and 
righteousness of charity in one week and in the next argue 
for the repeal of the fifteenth amendment to the constitution. 
These are strange things to us and withal discouraging, but 
like the oppressed in all ages on the side of right, we gather 
strength from opposition. But, what of the stronger broth- 
er who withholds justice and fairness? As an editor of a 
great paper will vou address this question to yourself? 

"A Negro." 

The Mann White Slave Act. 

A national Federal law, enacted by the people, for the peo- 
ple. I am glad to see any people try to protect their women. 
The White Slave law, without doubt, is a protection to so- 
ciety ; but white society only. I am of the opinion that the 
White Slave law is unconstitutional. Regardless to its sense 
of good purpose, it is in my judgment a special law for a 
soecial people, written under the American Constitution. If 
this law will protect the colored or Ne^ro women, it is not 
so worded ; it may be, however, so construed. Notwithstand- 
ing it is allegorical, and not in harmony with the Fourteenth 
and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the 
United States. Anv laws that only protect one race or cer- 
tain citizens are defective. The constitutional laws must pro- 
tect all American citizens alike. There can be no seoarate 
laws enacted in America for any special race; it must be for 
all the people of its citizenship. T will not say anything 
about the Supreme Court, but I question this law. because 
it does not protect our women also. We are American citi- 
zens. Our forefathers developed this country when it was 
but a wilderness ; hence, made it a garden spot in this new 
world, North America. Is it an oversight or ingratitude 



130 

on their part? If the Mann White Slave act does not apply 
to Negro women, how can it reach Negro men? The color 
line is drawn in the very enactments as worded. 

Lynching No. 9. 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 24, 1913.) 
"Clarksville, Texas, January 23. — Dick Stanley, a 16-year- 
old Negro, who, it was charged, attempted to assault a 4- 
year-old white girl today near Fulbeyght, Texas, was hanged 
by a mob at Fulbeyght this afternoon. Sheriff Mustain was 
on his way to jail with the Negro when he was overpowered 
by members of the mob." 

There was no trial, no proof that this child committed the 
act, or whether he was the one who committed the crime. 
It is said he was 16 years old; he might have been seven 
or eight years old or less. He might have been ten miles 
from the place of the crime when committed, if committed 
at all, but a Negro boy is dead now and the mob will not be 
brought to justice. God may take the mob out of the way 
befre the year is passed, but a human soul, a child in God's 
own image, has been sent into eternity. Does the strong 
arm say, "I am not my brother's keeper?" Does the State 
of Texas care? Has she made any efforts to bring the guilty 
parties to justice? Are our lawmakers concerned? 

South Carolina Wants the 15th Amendment Repealed. 

The Governor is in favor of it, but he prefers lynching. 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 24, 1913.) 
"Columbia, S. C, January 23. — The lower house of the 
general assembly today adopted a resolution asking Con- 
gress to repeal the Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution 
of the United States, and thus take the right of franchise 
from the Negroes. The vote was 70 to 46." 

Why, we have white citizens in Houston paying $157.50 
for a right to vote. If it is that much pleasure to be a citi- 
zen, why not let us remain citizens? But, however, I think 
all these mossback, backwoods, ignorant, would-be states- 
men will be gone to Sheol a long time before the Fifteenth 
Amendment will ever be changed. It is out of the question 
to say they are going to heaven for there is no heaven for an 
evil-spent life! Nor a black heart with the kingdom of hell 
set up in it. 

See what Representative Roddenbery of Georgia has to 
say about his resolution in the house : 



131 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 31, 1913.) 

By John Corrigan, Jr. 

"Washington, January 30. — (Special.) Representative 
Roddenbery, of Georgia, in a speech in the house today, 
urged the passage of his resolution to amend the federal 
Constitution to prevent the marriage of whites and blacks. 
He told a pathetic story of the marriage in Niles, Mich., re- 
cently of Helen E. Hanson, a 15-year-old white girl, and 
George F. Thompson, a Negro of 42. 

"Mr. Roddenbery declared that the marriage ceremony 
was performed by Charles Ager, 'a minister of the 
gospel — a white minister at that, who ought to be tarred 
and feathered and put into exile.' 

"The Southern congressman waved above his head a copy 
of the marriage certificate of the couple, and quoted from 
newspaper reports of the marriage, which recounted revolt- 
ing details. 

"Mob Law for Such Cases. 

" 'My God,' shouted Mr. Roddenbery, 'that the laws of any 
civilized State will permit a bestial brute to have sanctioned 
by law his wedlock to such a child ! Thompson is being held 
in the county jail pending the outcome of the child's injuries. 
He' is formally charged with abduction. 

" 'As abhorrent as mob law is, men who are human can 
be tempted beyond endurance. I appeal for the laws of 
States to prevent these dangers and outrages.' 

" 'I don't know what they will do about this case in Michi- 
gan,' cried Mr. Roddenbery, 'but, by God, I know what they 
would do in Georgia. No jail in my section of the country 
would be strong enough to hold that nigger.' 

"Mr. Roddenbery recalled the fact that a few weeks ago 
he addressed the house on the subject of the marriage of 
Jack Johnson, the Negro pugilist, to Lucille Cameron, a 
white girl, in Chicago. 

" 'It was then said by members of the house that the case 
was an isolated one,' said the Georgian. 'This repulsive 
character of marriage, however, is a common occurrence. I 
hold here the certificate of this recent marriage, and upon it 
there appears the gentle hand of a white woman and the 
strong hand of a white man. Each upraised with fingers 
touching each other over an open Bible. This particular cer- 
tificate is a defamation of the bodK of Holy Writ and bears 
testimony of the hideous marriage of an enfeebled white 
child to a demon and a brute. How long will it be before 
the States by law will prohibit such marriages? I am happy 



132 

to note that in Kansas last week a law was passed forever 
outlawing marriage between whites and blacks.' 

"Details of the Marriage. 

"Mr. Roddenbery related the circumstances of the mar- 
riage between Thompson and the Hanson girl. He said it 
took place at Niles, Mich., on January 13. He added: 'The 
certificate is signed by witnesses and underwritten by 
Charles Ager, a minister of the gospel — a white minister, 
at that — who ought to be tarred and featherd and put into 
exile. Thompson took the girl from Hammond, Ind., arriv- 
ing at Niles at 4 :30 in the morning. He concealed the child 
in a hotel in the railroad district of Niles. He then visited 
a justice of the peace and asked him to perform the cere- 
mony. Thompson, who was a widower, saw the child only 
two weeks before. She performed clerical work in a groc- 
ery store, owned by her mother. The brute was attracted 
to the child and bought her candy and ribbons. Finally he 
induced her to leave her home, and kept her all night. He 
later lured her to Niles, where the marriage was performed. 
'Gentlemen, it passes my understanding that this black 
brute who abducted this child, bound her in wedlock, and 
after outraging her, left her dying, could ever find lodgment 
in a jail or be confined in police barracks. Abhorrent as 
mob law is, men who are human can be tempted beyond en- 
durance. 

" 'I appeal to the States to pass laws that will prevent 
these outrages. Let the people of the several States cry 
out to their legislatures to protect by law our weak helpless 
and unfortunate against this brutality that cannot but im- 
pair our civilization and lead finally to violence and venge- 
ance, that all lovers of law and order would deplore. If the 
States refuse to do this, I think we had better amend the con- 
stitution as I have proposed.' " 

I don't know whether this would-be statesman means all 
Negroes are bestial brutes or not, which means beast. Why 
should he call this man a brute when his marriage was le- 
gal? He says the girl was 15 and the man 42. How does he 
know? Because the press says so. Does he know these peo- 
ple personally? I don't think so. While we in the South 
are against inter-marriages from the fact it is not our cus- 
tom, but in the East it is a custom and it has become a part 
of them. No doubt, the law should be changed; however, it 
must be done by the people there, and not by some ineligible 
Southern ignorant, would-be stateman. He is not a great 
man and never will be. He is not a cultured statesman and 
never will be. He tells the world how quick his State will 



133 

lynch a Negro. That is nothing great of his State and noth- 
ing great of him to approve of such. I have sized him up to 
be a malignant sinner. He took God's name in vain in the 
greatest capitol of the world, where cultured men look up- 
on it as a sacred place. He can never do his people any good 
there; he can only hope to just be there and draw his pay. 
He will never have any weight, influence and neither follow- 
ing in Congress. He calls this man a brute because he mar- 
ried a white girl, that the State allowed him to marry. While 
I don't advocate inter-marriages, yet I don't believe the man 
is a brute. The social condition no doubt will have to work 
itself out in the East. I doubt if the legislature can force the 
conditions to any effect. Up there the Negro woman, as 
well as down South looks good to the white man. 

And the white woman of the East in a small degree thinks 
the same of the Negro man. If not, he could not marry her; 
she is not forced to love him and marry him. These condi- 
tions must be handled on the merits. The truth must come, 
however, it may not sound good to all concerned. In the 
South we don't like it about the white man taking some of 
our best girls, but we cannot help ourselves. The law will 
not reach our case. In some sections the Negro can not pro- 
tect his home. I claim a woman, whether white or colored, 
should be just as safe alone in a thousand miles of wilder- 
ness with a Negro, as if his sister, if a good citizen, if a 
Christian gentleman. And we have this type of manhood. 

(Atlanta Constitution, Jan. 24, 1913.) 

"Buchanan, Ga., January 23.— (Special.) Charged with 
assaulting a 14-year-old girl, said to be mentally unbalanced, 
a wealthy citizen of Tallapoosa, about 63 years old, has been 
indicted by the Haralson County grand jury in session here. 

"Morrow was arrested a few days ago and given a trial 
before Mayor Pierce, found guilty of assault and sentenced 
to pay a fine of $100 or spend thirty days in jail. He was 
serving his term in the Tallapoosa calaboose when arrested 
by Sheriff Parker and brought here to the county jail. 

"A lynching was threatened in Tallapoosa when news of 
the alleged assault became known, but some of the leading 
citizens succeeded in persuading the mob to allow the law to 
take its course. 

"It is said that two or three responsible young men of 
Tallapoosa witnessed the alleged deed, but they had never 
mentioned the occurrence until a few days ago, and not then 
until they were closely questioned by the arresting officers. 
Marshal Pope and Deputy Sheriff Smith. They then made 



134 

a clean breast of all they had heard and seen, which led to 
the arrest. 

"When seen in jail, Morrow was very reticent, and would 
not talk of the incident. 

"At the preliminary trial given Morrow it was shown by 
the girl's father that she was mentally unbalanced. He said 
she had never been able to learn her A B C's, and could not 
tell the time of day by the clock. Morrow has lived in Talla- 
poosa for a number of years, accumulating a fortune there 
in the real estate business. He has retained counsel, and 
will make a fight for his life and liberty. Upon the bill 
returned by the grand jury were the words, 'No bond al- 
lowed/ and he will be forced to remain in jail until the case 
is decided, which will probably be next week." 

A white man gets a fair trial; had he been a Negro he 
would have been burned to a stake. 

Houston, Miss., Mob. 
Lynching No. 11. 

(Houston Chronicle, Feb. 9, 1913.) 

"Houston, Miss., Feb. 8. — Within vision of a powerless 
sheriff and several deputies on the court house square, Dib- 
rell Rucker, a Negro, aged 30, was burned to death by a mob 
this afternoon. His body was tied to a post and tar and 
straw applied. When the flames began to spread two shots 
were fired from the crowd and one was believed to have 
pierced the Negro's heart. He did not move again. 

"The Negro admitted killing Mrs. John Clifford Williams, 
wife of Deputy Chancery Clerk Williams, at her home Tues- 
day morning, for which another Negro, Jim Jones, aged 35, 
was lynched by the same mob early Friday morning. 

"Rucker was captured last night and was kept in hiding 
by the sheriff until about noon today, when the mob found 
him. 

"The officer and his deputies were overpowered, taken to 
the court house and locked in a second story room and per- 
mitted to see the mob work through an open window. Jones, 
the Negro who was lynched Friday, was an accomplice of 
Rucker, according to the latter's story, but Rucker admitted 
killing the woman. He said Jones helped conceal her body 
in the cellar of her home." 

This is a lynching in which the Associated Press says 
the Negro admitted his guilt; there is no certainty about it. 
The man is dead. It is likely to be a Monk Gibson case. 
Who could believe anything a mob said? Who would be- 




Houston Mississippi Mob 



L36 

lieve the sheriff and deputies were powerless to act? The 
mob knew the officers is why they preferred to lynch the 
Negro on the court house square. Some of that number must 
go before the bar of God this year. 

More About the Houston, Mississippi, Mob. 

(Atlanta Constitution, February 9, 1913.) 

"Houston, Miss., February 8. — While a court stenographer 
took his testimony, Divel Rucker, a Negro, 30 years old, to- 
day, in the presence of 1,000 persons, convicted him of the 
murder of a white woman, was condemned to death, and, 
while the sheriff and his deputies looked on, powerless to 
act, was chained to steel pump in the court house yard, oil- 
soaked wood was piled about him, the match applied and the 
body incinerated. A member of the mob fired four shots 
into Rucker's body before he died. His ashes were gathered 
up and carted away and the crowd dispersed. 

"Took Negro From Sheriff. 

"The lynching was the second in as many days, and fol- 
lowed the killing of Mrs. J. C. Williams, who was clubbed to 
death in her home here in the daytime Thursday, and her 
body thrown in a pit under the house after it had been strip- 
ped of a diamond ring and other jewelry. Andrew Williams, 
a Negro, was first arrested charged with the crime. He was 
taken from jail by a mob and hanged Friday. The same 
night, Rucker, an employee of Mrs. Williams' father, was 
taken into custody and was hidden in a dwelling by the 
sheriff. 

"Early today the mob ferreted out the hiding place, took 
the Negro from the officers, who were placed under guard, 
and determined to give Rucker a public trial without official 
interference. He was led down the street to a convenient 
open spot, the court stenographer summoned and an oppor- 
tunity given the Negro to tell his story. 

"Innocent Negro Lynched. 

"He was quizzed for two hours. He declared the Negro 
previously lynched to be guiltless. He told in detail of en- 
tering the dwelling and asking Mrs. Williams for money 
and, being refused, he said he choked and beat her to death. 
The stenographer duly made a record of the confession, and 
at its conclusion the question of punishment was debated. 

" 'Burn him,' someone laconically said, and Rucker was 



137 

marched to the court house yard, where he was bound to 

the pump. 

"District Attorney Knox appealed to the throng to forego 
its vengeance. He declared Governor Brewer at Jackson, 
with whom he had talked over the telephone, promised a spe- 
cial term of court to try Rucker. The crowd listened re- 
spectfully, but proceeded with its preparation to execute 
the prisoner. 

"The sheriff and his deputies, under guard in the court 
house, witnessed the scene through a window." 

NEGRO WOMEN WORKING ON WAYCROSS STREETS. 

(Atlanta Constitution, February 5, 1913.) 
"Waycross, Ga., February 4.— (Special.) Mayor Harry 
D. Reed thinks he has found the solution of the loitering 
problem among Negro women of Waycross. Gang sentences 
are being given to loiterers by the mayor, and a guard has 
been secured to keep the women of this gang at work on 
the city streets. 

"Today the gang has seven members, and all are on for 
fifteen days. A few of them claim to be cooks, but as they 
were reported by the police as 'regulars'' at a hang-out joint 
for Negroes, they were not allowed to return to their jobs. 
Heretofore the arrest of Negro women has merely proved an 
extra expense for the city, as the women were kept in jail 
when unable to pay their fines. 

"It has been several years since women were worked on 
the streets of Waycross, and the decision to return to this 
custom was arrived at only after serious consideration by 
the city officials. Few cases of loitering are anticipated af- 
ter it becomes known among those inclined to loaf that the 
city has a job for all who are convicted of loitering." 

In the State of Georgia, possibly the only State in the 
Union where they make colored women work the streets 
and city ditches. Texas is far above that ! 

(Atlanta Constitution.) 
"Macon, Ga., January 11. — (Special.) A holdup woman is 
Macon's latest. Emmett G. Perry, a night dispatcher for 
the Georgia, Southern & Florida railroad, was held up and 
robbed by a Negro woman early this morning while on his 
way home from work. The woman came upon him on Steel 
street, and drawing a large knife is said to have demanded 
that Perry hold up his hands. She went through his pockets 
and relieved him of $25 and some papers belonging to the 
railroad company. 



138 

"Though a cripple, Perry struck the woman a blow in the 
face while she was searching him that staggered her. When 
she came at him with the knife Perry picked up a brick and 
struck her in the face. A policeman passed about that time 
and the woman was arrested. She gave her name as Mary 
Abel. When arraigned before the recorder this morning the 
woman was committed to the city court under bond of 
$1,000." 

It may be true, but I don't believe it. I think it is only a 
social equality case. 

TO BE CARRIED TO GALLOWS ON COT. 

(Houston Post, February 9, 1913.) 
"Jackson, Miss., February 8. — Seymour Arnold, the Ne- 
gro condemned to be hanged Monday at Collins, Miss., for 
the murder of William Lowery and W. T. Johns, will have 
to be carried to the gallows on a cot. W"hen captured by a 
posse several weeks ago, it was found that a bullet had lodged 
near his spine, causing complete paralysis of the lower por- 
tion of his body." 

This man was shot. He might have been shot trying to 
protect himself or to save his own life. 

The Negroes and Whites Work Together in St. Louis, Mo. 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 24, 1913.) 
"St. Louis, Mo., January 23. — A committee of five white 
persons and five Negroes, appointed by the St. Louis league 
to investigate the housing of Negroes, today issued a state- 
ment protesting against a proposed ordinance segregating 
the Negroes of St. Louis. A bill to that effect is pending in 
the municipal assembly. 

"The committee's statement says in part: 
" 'Our committee is unanimously of the opinion that the 
problem of the relation of white people and Negroes cannot 
be solved by crystallizing prejudices into legislation. The 
proposed law frequently would prevent Negroes from im- 
proving their conditions by moving into better neighbor- 
hoods. We cannot believe that any broad-minded American 
can regard the legal segregation of races as American or 
Christian.' 

"The committee adds that the proposed law is unconsti- 
tutional " 

Atlanta, Ga., Educators. 
On practical education and moral uplift for the great 
masses of the Negro race a number of Negro leaders made 



139 

strong addresses last night at a meeting held in Turner 
chapel, corner Julian and Corn streets, under the auspices 
of the Atlanta Normal and Industrial Institute, a school for 
the practical training of Negro youth. 

"How Leading Negro Women May Encourage the Lowly 
of the Race" was the subject of Eliza Turner Frazier. She 
told in a sensible way how the Negro of opportunity and 
chance may help the race to have good manners and be 
useful and honest. 

M. B. Timbers, one of the teachers of the institute, read 
a prepared paper on "How We May Thoroughly Prepare 
Our Women and Girls Who Must Necessarily Do Domestic 
Work." Other speeches were also made. R. D. Stinson, 
principal, presided and urged the large audience that the 
duty of the Negro was to be honest and discreet in conduct. 
He said the best people of this community, if not the whole 
South, are willing at all times to stand by the members of 
the race who are trying to be decent. The singing, furnished 
by a large choir of the students, was a feature of the oc- 
casion. 

(Houston Chronicle, February 12, 1913.) 

"San Antonio, Texas, Feb. 12. — A charge of murder has 
been preferred against Mary Wilson, a Negro woman, ar- 
rested in connection with the killing of Olaf Olson, a troop- 
er of Fort Sam Houston, last Monday. 

"According to Sheriff Tobin the woman signed a written 
confession and a copy of this has been presented to the grand 
jury. She waived preliminary examination before Justice 
Campbell and was bound over without bail. 

"The woman stated that the soldier was at her house Sun- 
day night and threatened her." When she started to go to 
a friend's home, she said, he followed her and caught hold 
of her. Believing he intended to do her bodily injury," she 
says, she drew a revolver and shot him." 

A white man was killed and a Negro woman arrested. 
What was it? It was only a case of social equality. What 
right did he have in her room? The white people are burn- 
ing Negro men about white women, unidentified. Why not 
let the Negro women protect themselves? Do any honest 
set of men regardless to color say he had any right in this 
woman's room? The white people will harp on the separa- 
tion of the races until a white man is killed about a Negro 
woman. She had a legal right to protect herself and home. 

An Indiana Man Killed Three Negroes. 

Evansville, Ind., February 8. — Allen von Behren, 23 years 



140 

old, assistant superintendent of a wood working plant, 
owned by his father, B. F. von Behren, shot and killed three 
Negro laborers today. 

He said they had threatened to kill him. Von Behren was 
arrested. 

Dr. Washington Makes An Able Address. 

(Atlanta Constitution, January 3, 1913.) 

"Tuskegee, Ala., January 2. — (Special.) Booker T. 
Washington, principal and founder of Tuskegee Institute, 
the famous school for Negroes, delivered a characteristic 
address Sunday night in the chapel of the school to nearly 
1,600 students, 200 teachers and several hundred colored 
citizens from the town of Tuskegee and the Greenwood set- 
tlement. Much interest was attached to the address, because 
it was the last talk to the student body and teachers for the 
old year and because it was expected that the address would 
touch upon future work for teachers and students. 

"The address was delivered without notes, stenographical- 
ly reported, and it was characteristic of the practical and 
helpful discourses Dr. Washington delivers Sunday even- 
ings to the school. 

"Value of Organization. 

"Washington's address emphasized two principles as ap- 
plied to the Negro: the value of organization and the ne- 
cessity of obedience and discipline. Summing up his argu- 
ments and stressing the need for respect of authority, he 
said: 

" 'One of the fine results, satisfactory results, following 
the mastery of that lesson is that in any organization, a 
school or what not, where people have learned that great 
fundamental lesson of respect for authority, obedience to 
commands, there you will find order, there you will find 
peace, there you will find absence of friction, there you will 
find success. 

" 'Now, let me repeat that one of the differences between 
ignorance and intelligence, between crudeness and culture, 
consists in the fact that an individual has learned obedi- 
ence, respect for authority and the other has not learned it, 
and don't make the mistake that so many people make, often 
educated people make, that to obey is a sign of weakness, is 
a sign of degradation ; to obey is a sign of strength, to obey 
is a sign of all that which indicates nobility of character." 



141 

NEGRO CONVICTS 

I will show the statistics of the convicts in State peniten- 
tiaries in the United States for 1912 and 1913 : 

The State of Georgia. 

Negro men 2,308 

Negro women 75 

Total Negroes 2,383 

White men 320 

White 1 women 5 

Total whites 325 

Negroes, read and write 1,468 

Negroes, read only 200 

Negroes, illiterate 715 

Whites, read and write 258 

Whites, read only 19 

Whites, illiterate 48 

The Negro Reformatory School report not in at this writ- 
ing. 

The State of South Carolina. 

Number of Negro men in prison 477 

Number of Negro women in prison 46 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 250 

Number of boys in Reformatory School 137 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 (paroled 82) . . 5 

Grand Total 690 

State of Nebraska. 

Number of Negroes in prison 99 

Number of Negro women in prison 6 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 39 

Total 120 

Number of boys in Reformatory School 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1911-1912, about. ... 15 

State of California. 

Number of Negro men in prison 80 

Number of Negro women in prison None 

Number of educated Negroes in prison — Very few illiterate. 
Number of boys in Reformatory School — No school here. 
Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 None 



142 



State of Maine. 



Number of Negro men in prison 2 

Number of Negro women in prison None 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 

Number of boys in Reformatory School 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 1 

State of Virginia. 

Number of Negro men in prison 1,647 

Number of Negro women in prison 83 

Total 1,730 

Number of educated Negroes in prison — 60 per cent partially 
Number boys in Reformatory School, Not under jurisdiction 
Number Negroes pardoned in 1912, 21 — paroled, 95. . 116 

State of Nevada. 

Number of Negro men in prison 12 

Number of Negro women in prison 1 

Total 13 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 9 

Number of boys in Reformatory School — No Reformatory. 
Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 None 

State of New Mexico. 

Number of Negro men in prison 8 

Number of Negro women in prison 1 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 5 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 None 

State of South Dakota. 

Number of Negro men in prison 7 

Number of Negro women in prison None 

Number of educated Negroes in prison None 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 None 

State of Vermont. 

Number of Negro men in prison 31 

Number of Negro women in prison 1 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 12 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 3 



143 

State of Oregon. 

Number of Negro men in prison 9 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 9 

Number of boys in Reformatory School 95 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 2 

State of Kansas. 

Number of Negro men in prison 283 

Number of Negro women in prison 45 

Number of educated Negroes in prison — 10% illiterate. 

Number of boys in Reformatory School 343 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 None 

Paroled, 69 ; 27 discharged by expiration. 

Total 626 

State of West Virginia. 

Number of Negroes in prison 410 

Number of Negro women in prison , . . . . 14 

Total 424 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 325 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 . 12 

State of Ohio. 

Number of Negro men in prison 340 

Number of Negro women in prison 18 

Total 358 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 4 

State of Wyoming. 

Number of Negro men in prison 38 

Number of Negro women in prison : 1 

Total 39 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 12 

Number of boys in Reformatory School 26 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 

United States Federal Prison, Atlanta, Ga. 

Number of Negro men in prison 290 

Number of Negro women in prison None 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 222 

Number of boys in Reformatory School None 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 None 



144 

United States Federal Prison, Leavenworth, Kansas. 

White men 810 

Negro men 409 

33 Negroes are unable to read and write. Some are well 
educated. See letter elsewhere. 

State of Maryland. 

Number of Negro men in prison 553 

Number of Negro women in prison 27 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 376 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 10 

State of Washington. 

Number of Negro men in prison 43 

Number of Negro women in prison 8 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 39 

Number of Negroes released in 1912 16 

State of Texas. 

Whites 1,011 

Negroes 2,071 

Mexicans 388 

Indians 1 

Common education — 

Negroes 1,821 

From Sept. 1, 1910, to Jan. 1, 1912— 

Negroes received 838 

Negroes discharged 659 

Negroes pardoned 114 

Negroes escaped 58 

Negroes died 36 

Negro women in prison 58 

Total Negro men and women in prison 2,219 



' l ^ 



Total white and colored convicts who can not read 
and write 1,586 

State of Idaho. 

Number of Negro men in prison 9 

Number of Negro women in prison None 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 9 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 None 



145 

State of North Dakota. 

Number of Negro men in prison 14 

Number of Negro women in prison None 

Number of educated Negroes in prison 1 

From the reports the Northern States do not convict the 
Negro so very fast. It is not because the Negro is not there 
in large numbers. It is a fact some of the men who consti- 
tute the Southern jury are prejudiced to the young Negro 
and they go in the box with a determined mind to send the 
Negro to the farm before they have the evidence. 

Connecticut State Prison 
Ward A. Garner, Warden 
W T ethersfield, Conn. 

February 5, 1913. 

E. C. Branch, Esq., 3219 Haire St., Houston, Texas. 

Dear Sir: — Enclosed herewith find card received from 
you which we have filled out, showing statistics in regard to 
our Negro population. 

Respectfuly yours, 

W. A. GARNER, Warden. 

State of Connecticut. 

Number of Negro men in prison 54 

Number of Negro women in prison 2 

Number of Negroes pardoned in 1912 1 

State of New York. 

Number of Negro men in prison 477 

Number of Negro women in prison 72 

New York Prison Report. 

City Prison, Brooklyn 256 

House of Detention, New York City 16 

County — 

White, male 33,715 

Women 1,659 

Negroes, male 1,636 

Women . . ., 299 

Total Negroes in New York prison •. . . 1,935 



146 
Louisiana State Prison Report, 1912. 

White men 364 

White women 4 

Total white • 368 

Negro men 1,591 

Negro women 51 

Total Negroes 1,642 

1911 Report- 
Negro prisoners able to read and write 206 

Negro prisoners unable to read and write 278 

Whites able to read and write 118 

Whites unable to read and write 28 

Massachusetts Prison Report, 1910-11-12. 

Shows an unclassified report of 7,006 

Therefore I am unable to show what per cent are Negroes 
in prison. 

State of New York Prison Report 1911-12. 

State prison 4,532 

State Reformatory for men 1,718 

New York City Reformatory 304 

State Reformatories and houses of refuge for women . . 549 

Penitentiaries 2,295 

County jails 1,8'85 

New York City prison 670 

New York workhouse 1,661 

District prisons, New York City 230 

Total,.men 9,716 

Total, women 398 

Total educated 2,496 

Total, boys 495 

Paroled 103 

Pardoned 166 

The grand total of men, women and boys in the State pris- 
ons is 10,609. 

All reports are not in and will not be ready for the first 
edition. 

A GEORGIA TRIAL AT ATLANTA, GA. 

Endowed with the historic and Southern name of Battle, 
two Negroes, husband and wife, stood before Judge Preston 



147 

in police court yesterday afternoon and proved their right 
to it beyond all doubt. 

"Jedge, this here nigger got so rambunctious I jest had to 
do something to conquer him," explained Martha as to why 
she had called the police. 

"Jedge, I ain't done nothing a-tall ; this women jest wanted 
to show what she could do," explained George. "I brings 
my money home every week and I been a good husband for 
thirty years." 

"And what do you do with your money?" the judge asked 
the wife. 

"I puts it to good use. I pays policy with it fer the whole 
family, so's if George gits laid up I'll git something." 

"How much would you get if he broke his neck?" 

"Bout $2 I reckon. But I loves him and I don't want 
nothing to happen to him." 

"That settles it then — only $1.75 for you, George, on ac- 
count of your wife." 

Then Martha, who had him arrested, paid him out! 

THE BOOK A DEFENDER OF THE RACE. 

This book is in defense of the Negro race. I have an- 
swered every article against the Negro. I have shown rea- 
sonable facts in each case. I have pleaded his cause. I have 
reproduced many articles from the Associated Press, nam- 
ing the paper and giving the date of same. I have shown 
lynching. I have shown the number of Negro convicts, al- 
most in the United States. The second edition will be com- 
plete with all the information obtainable from all of the 
States in the Union. I will discuss a solution in the second 
edition to the race question. The book covers every injus- 
tice done the Negro in America, as well as local conditions. 

There is no need of so much prejudice against the Negro. 
He is loyal to the country, he is true to the white man. When 
he learns to like a white man and take him to be his friend 
he will die for him. Big contractors find him to be reliable. 
He will take a deep interest in his boss' business. He is not 
with that class of laborers who only look for 5 o'clock and 
pay day. He is an important factor to the big contractor. 

All railrads find him a great help in the time of need. I 
have said he will not strike. At any rate, the better class 
of laborers will not strike under any circumstances; they 
proved this at the S. P. railroad shops. 

The superintendent of motive power is indeed a good man. 
But there is a plan laid to side-track the Negro from all well- 
paying jobs. If Mr. J. W. Small will take a little time and 



148 

personally look into these conditions he will do the Negro 
untold good. The Negroes have merited this consideration 
from the whole Southern Pacific Company. One big man 
said not long ago to a little foreman: "Hereafter fill these 
vacancies with white men." And the Negro was facing death 
during the strike for the company. This is not Mr. Scott's 
neither Mr. R. S. Lovett's wishes to side-track the Negro on 
account of his color. He has made good. During the strike 
the Negro told the railroad company, "I will do anything you 
want me to do. All I ask is protection." Southern Pacific 
Railroad Company, what will you do? Will you stand to 
see him mistreated, thinking you will not need him any 
more? You don't know about that. 

Another good man who holds a small position is Mr. J 
S. Richards ; he is a company man, nothing less. Demand- 
ing of all an honest day's work; but all like him, because 
he is fair; yet he is strictly business. There are some few 
more good men who are not against the Negro in the shops. 

An article from Dr. Bonner, one of the leading lights of 
the A. M. E. Church : 

CHARACTER. 

I think this little booklet has an eye single of character. 

Character is one of the greatest motive powers in the 
world. In its noblest embodiments it exemplifies human na- 
ture in its highest form for it exhibits man at his best; it 
is the cornerstone of individual greatness. 

Character is to a man what the flywheel is to the engine. 
By the force of its momentum it carries him through times 
of temptation and trial. 

When a person has lost his character all is lost — all peace 
of mind ; all complacency in himself has fled forever. 

He despises himself, he is despised by his fellow-men — 
within is shame and remorse ; without, neglect and reproach. 
It is better to be poor ; it is better to be reduced to beggary ; 
it is better to be cast into prison or condemned to perpetual 
slavery than to be destitute of a good name. 

Respectfully yours, 

O. L. BONNER, 
Pastor of Payne Chapel A. M. E. Church, No. 1519 Hill St., 
Houston, Texas. 



Mi) 



A RAILROAD ARTICLE WHICH CONCERNS THE 

NEGRO. 

(Houston Post, February 18, 1913.) 
"Three important changes in officials on the Sunset-Cen- 
tral Line were announced at the general offices in Houston 
Monday. Captain George McCormick is made assistant 
general manager in charge of motive power, P. T. Connor is 
appointed assistant superintendent at San Antonio, and J. 
M. Teachworth is named as assistant superintendent at 
Houston. 

"In the appointments, which were made effective Monday, 
Captain McCormick succeeds J. W. Small, Mr. Conner suc- 
ceeds J. E. McLean and Mr. Teachworth succeeds R. A. Crof- 
ton, all of the retiring officials having resigned. 

"The men receiving the appointments are all old employes 
of the company and have all held various important posi- 
tions at a number of points on the system. Few are better 
known in Houston than Captain George McCormick, who re- 
turns to his home city. 

"A. and M. Graduate. 

"Captain McCormick was born in Columbus, Texas, in 
1872. He graduated from the Agricultural and Mechanical 
College of Texas, 20 years of age, and immediately entered 
the service of the Sunset Lines in Houston under Master 
Mechanic J. J. Ryan. Later he was transferred to San An- 
tonio, but returned to Houston in 1894 as assistant to Mr. 
Ryan, in which capacity he served until a year ago, when 
he was transferred to El Paso, as assistant superintendent 
from which position he has been promoted to the one he now 
enters, in Houston, at the head of the motive power depart- 
ment. 

"While in San Antonio, Captain McCormick became a 
member of the Belknap Rifles, and participated in a num- 
ber of competitive drills in which that company carried off 
the honors. Upon his return to Houston he joined the Hous- 
ton Light Guards, another of the crack military organiza- 
tions of the State. 

"In 1898 when war was declared against Span, the light 
guards volunteered for service and McCormick was elected 
captain of the company and remained in command at Miami, 
Fla., until the war was ended, when he returned to Houston 
and again took up his duties with the Sunset Lines. 

"In 1910 he was elected captain of El Mina Patrol, of 



150 

Shriners, in which position he continued until his appoint- 
ment to the office of assistant superintendent at El Paso. 

"Mr. McCormick was welcomed back to Houston Monday 
by many friends and the Shriners particularly are elated at 
his coming. The family will follow soon and they will again 
take up their residence at their home, 1504 Leeland Avenue." 

Lynching No. 12. 

(Associated Press News, February 15, 1913.) 

"Negro Preacher Was Lynched. 

"Shreveport, La., February 15. — Charles Tyson, a Negro 
preacher in the north portion of this parish, was found 
hanging to a limb late Friday afternoon. It is believed that 
he was lynched by members of his own race. The cause is 
not known." 

The Press claims this was a Negro mob; no fair-minded 
man will believe any such stuff. Take the Houston, Miss., 
lynching. I was writing on that case two weeks ago, and 
said some of that mob would die before the year was out. 
And the Houston Press of February 14 shows one of the 
mob at home hanged himself, which was a good thing; let 
him go right on to Sheol. Others will follow. 

(Atlanta Constitution, February 15, 1913.) 
"An ordinance providing for segregating whites and Ne- 
groes in Atlanta has been framed by Congressman Claude 
L. Ashley, of the Fourth ward, and will be introduced in 
council Monday afternoon. 

"The ordinance is identical with the one introduced in Bal- 
timore, Md., some years ago and recently declared by the 
Maryland supreme court to be constitutional. Councilman 
Ashley, the author of the ordinance, says the law will be 
worth $50,000 a year for the better health protection it will 
afford. 

" 'I think the ordinance is a good one,' said Charles P. 
Glover, president of the Atlanta Real Estate Board, last 
night. 'I am not acquainted with the technical features of 
the ordinance, but if it is like the ordinances in other South- 
ern cities it will be helpful to both races.' 

"Increase Realty Values. 

"President Glover would not discuss the ordinance for the 
real estate men of Atlanta. He said, however, that he be- 
lieved the law would increase realty values in white sections 
and would also have a tendency to boost property populated 
by Negroes. 



151 

" 'There is no race prejudice nor favoritism in the law 
I propose,' Councilman Ashley explained Friday. 'I have 
studied social conditions in Atlanta ever since boyhood and 
I am convinced that a segregation law will not only tend 
to the betterment of health and moral conditions among the 
Negroes, but will also aid in the social uplift of the people.' 

"Councilman Ashley believes his ordinance will improve 
health conditions in Atlanta more than 50 per cent. He says 
that the law will soon wipe away the little huts occupied by 
both white and black and eradicate the breeding places of 
tuberculosis, smallpox, typhoid and other diseases which At- 
lanta is pending thousands yearly to combat. 

"Will Separate the Races. 

" 'There are dozens of tenement houses in Atlanta in which 
whites and Negroes live,' Councilman Ashley says. 'It is 
my aim to have the races separated and removed into sec- 
tions where they can be associated with people of their own 

class.' 

"Councilman Ashley has already been assured the sup- 
port of influential members of the council in his fight to get 
the ordinance through. He has also passed the measure to 
a number of leading real estate men, and they have given 
him assurance of support. He says the only objection to 
the ordinance will come from owners of property who do 
not have the welfare of the people of the city or their ten- 
ants at heart. 

"The ordinance is to become effective from the date of its 
adoption by the council. It makes it a misdemeanor for any 
person, white or black, to move into or use as a residence 
any building located on a street, alley or thoroughfare, to 
be defined by council. Violation of the ordinance is pun- 
ishable in the police court by fine or imprisonment, and 
for each day the law is violated the ordinance provides for 
a separate offense. 

"Provisions of Ordinance. 

"The law does not prevent domestic servants from resid- 
ing in the house in which they are employed or in houses 
on the lots. 

"The ordinance also provides that persons desiring to erect 
houses for himself or as agent in a section denned, shall de- 
clare to the building inspector whether the place is to be 
occupied by white or Negro tenants. 

"The ordinance requires the building inspector to publish 
notice of application twice a week for two successive weeks 



152 

in an Atlanta newspaper. A majority of the property own- 
ers in the block may protest in writing to the inspector with- 
in five days after the last publication of the notice. 

"The ordinance provides a method by which a block which 
is vacant may be improved. 

"Both Richmond, Va., and Baltimore have the same ordin- 
ance in operation, and there has been a decided increase of 
realty values in both cities." 

This is a city law of Atlanta, a law that is adjustable to 
meet any condition. It is against the law for a Negro to live 
next door to a white family unless the Negro is a domestic 
servant of the said white family, in that case the Negro be- 
comes white and the law is not violated. What a grand 
constitutional city ordinance! It is like the separate coach 
bill. If a Negro has got a white baby under the Jim Crow 
law the Negro becomes white and eligible to ride in any 
coach or Pullman car. 

SON ACCUSED FATHER OF MURDERING NEGRO. 

(From the Atlanta Constitution, February 24, 1913.) 
"Asheville, N. C, Feb. 23. — Joseph Price, a white man of 
Marion, charged with the murder of John Allen, colored, in 
August, 1911, was acquitted by the jury last night, accord- 
ing to a telephone message received here today. 

"Price was arrested on the statement of his 16-year-old 
son that his father had slain Allen in order to get the gold 
which the Negro was supposed to carry on his person. The 
boy maintained that on the morning following the murder, 
his father compelled him (the son) to assist in the burial 
of the victim. The defense during the trial endeavored to 
show that the boy's story was concocted in revenge for a 
whipping which the father had administered." 

Lynching No. 15. 

BOY ACCUSED OF STRIKING WHITE MAN— IT HAP- 
PENED IN COLE L. BLEASE'S STATE. 

(From the Atlanta Constitution, February 24, 1913.) 
"Manning, S. C, Feb. 23. — Taken from an officer and shot 
by a mob of twelve or fifteen masked men, Marion Cantria, 
a 17-year-old Negro boy, was lynched early this morning 
near Manning. 

"The boy, who was accused of assault and battery on a 
young white man, was arrested and committed for trial by 
the magistrate at Paxville, near here. An officer set out to 



L53 

bring the boy to jail at Manning, the county seat at Claren- 
don County. 

"About 4 miles from Knoxville the constable and his pris- 
oner were overtaken by a mob of twelve or fifteen masked 
men, who took the boy from the officer and shot him to 
death. 

"The officer reported the lynching, and the coroner held 
an inquest today. The verdict was that the Negro had come 
to his death at the hands of unknown parties. The inquest 
elicited no information as to who composed the mob." 

A WHITE CONVICT MADE A CITIZEN. 

This man killed Drake without a cause; a harmless Ne- 
gro. He was convicted and sent to the farm. He was not 
treated like a convict, he was made a trusty and given a job 
as guard with a gun, which is his delight. I didn't know 
under the Texas laws that guards could be made of criminal 
convicts. He should not be pardoned from the fact he is 
dangerous. 

(From the Houston Chronicle, March 21, 1913.) 

"Two Negro convicts at the Ramsey State Farm near Bon- 
nie, Texas, were shot and killed and a third Negro badly 
wounded during the attempted escape of several of the Negro 
prisoners. The shooting is alleged to have been done by the 
guards on duty. One of the guards implicated in the trouble 
is Jim Lubbock, trusty and former deputy constable at Hous- 
ton, who is serving a term at the Ramsey farm for killing 
a Negro in Houston, and in whose behalf an application for 
a pardon is now pending. 

"Details of the shooting at the Ramsey farm are hard 
to get, as Captain J. N. South, in charge of the farm, has sub- 
mitted his written report of the shooting to the penitentiary 
commission at Huntsville, and that body has not as yet 
acted in the matter. 

''From reliable sources, however, it is reported that sever- 
al Negro convicts who had been working in the Ramsey plan- 
tations made a break for freedom Wednesday afternoon. 
The outbreak was general and the prisoners scattered in all 
directions, with the guards in close pursuit. 

"It is stated that the dogs of the guards had three of the 
Negro convicts penned up. Just how the shooting happened 
about this time could not be learned, as it was stated there 
were no witnesses on hand, except the guards. From the 
Ramsey State Farm it was stated that Jim Lubbock, trusty, 
and the other guards in charge of the plantation gang all 



154 

participated in the shooting, and that when it was over two 
Negro prisoners were dead and a third is not expected to 
live. 

"All of the convicts were Negroes and from the farm it 
was stated that all of the escaped men were recaptured. Ev- 
erything is reported as being quiet at the Ramsey farm 
today." 

Prof. E. L. Blackshear, A. M., the Texas Booker T. Wash- 
ington, is educating the Negro farmers of Texas along all 
lines of industry. His usefulness to the teacher and farm- 
er is untold. See his Farmers' Congress July program, 1913. 
Study it and be prepared to discuss it at this great meeting. 
I signed the call for this Congress and I am delighted at its 
progress. 

(Houston Chronicle, March 22, 1913.) 

PROGRAM FOR COLORED FARMERS' CONGRESS AT 
PRAIRIE VIEW MADE UP. 

Prairie View, Texas, March 22. — A called meeting of the 
executive committee of the Colored Farmers' Congress was 
held Friday at the Prairie View State Normal and Industrial 
College for the purpose of deciding upon a program for the 
coming session of the Congress, to be held at this place dur- 
ing the latter part of July. 

The meeting was called to order by E. L. Blackshear, 
president, at 2 o'clock p. m., and the following persons were 

present: Surry Smith, Pittsbridge, Texas; Jackson 

of Bellville, Texas ; J. M. Jingles, Hempstead, Texas ; R. L. 
Isaacs, Prairie View; R. C. Collins, W. P. Terrell, N. A. 
Banks, J. H. Lee, C. H. Waller, Prairie View. The commit- 
tee discussed many questions of interest to the colored farm- 
er in particular, and to the colored people in general. Among 
the things discussed the necessity of the colored farmer's 
engaging more extensively in live stock raising took up a 
large part of the time of the meeting. The program covers 
three days and the following were elected to conduct the 
meetings of the Congress: First day, Prof. C. H. Waller; 
second day, Jackson ; third day, Surry Smith, Sr. 

The following program was adopted: First day's ses- 
sion, Tuesday, July 29, "Poultry and Dairying"; (1) "Best 
Type of Milch Cow for Texas," discussed by G. W. Tillory ; 
(2) "What Can Be Done to Produce Milk as Cheaply in the 
South as in the North," Malty McDade, Hempstead; (3) 
"The Best Home Method of Butter-Making," H. S. Estelle 
of Prairie View, C. R. Gregg of Pittsbridge; (4) "Profit in 



155 

the Hen," Mrs. B. Fedford, Mrs. F. W. Jackson; (5) "Best 
Breeds of Chickens," W. L. Davis of Hempstead, R. L. Is- 
aacs; (6) "Poultry Feeding," N. A. Banks, J. H. Lee. 

Second dav, Wednesday, July 30, "Truck Farming and 
Marketing"; (1) "Time for Planting," S. A. Rutledge, Dr. J. 
D. Dixon; (2) "Kinds of Fertilizers," H. E. Ganaway, John 
Singleton, H. Montgomery; (3) "Benefits of Diversification," 
R. C. Chatham, J. V. Smith, Surry Smith, Jr.; (4) "Potato 
Growing for Profit," E. W. Roberts, Jack Taylor, B. Fed- 
ford. 

Third day, Thursday, July 31, "Stock Farming." This 
subject will be discussed in a general way, allowing every 
one an opportunity to give his views on this very important 
subject. 

SUBJECT, SOCIETY. 

A paper as read before the B. Y. P. U. of Antioch Baptist 
Church, in 1897 by the writer: 

Society is the first principle of civilization, especially when 
its object is to teach its members the knowledge of God, 
and His goodness. 

Webster defines society as follows : "A union of persons 
in one interest." Therefore, society is a union, and union 
means peace and love. Social society is a school of elocution 
in which its members learn the delivery of correct language. 
Society is a social school, it creates sociability among its 
members, it develops them morally and sociably. Society 
prepares one for his or her natural use in life. It does not 
take the place of schooling, nor would I say so; society is 
above school ; school prepares one for social society and social 
society prepare one to meet the world on his or her merits. 
Society holds out her hand and welcomes the fallen man and 
woman to a seat of reform, if they will only accept. So- 
ciety creates tact, and tact is but another word for goodness, 
but to be good is to be just, to be just is to be kind, and to 
be kind is to be loving and peaceable. Society will polish 
the mind, and elevate the youth to higher and greater steps 
in life. Society fits a person for manhood or womanhood in 
this busy world. We have many encouringing features be- 
fore us that demonstrate the necessity of the Negro prepar- 
ing him or herself to meet the world on his merits. In 
society great good will be realized to those who attend it 
and are in earnest to make it a success ; success is not hidden 
from those who seek it; in this society the little good done 
now means something greater in the future. We can not 
say too much about society in trying to impress the youth 



156 

of its great benefits. There are so many evil places of de- 
gradation of today, until it is no little thing to constrain the 
youth to an intelligent and religious standing in socety, in 
fact it can not be done without society. The places of de- 
gradation are as follows: The ball rooms, the gambling 
houses and the saloons ; but thousands are lost, and society 
can't save them now. Solomon says, "Train a child in the 
way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from 
it." In Christian society we are taught not to sit down and 
wait for the handwriting on the wall, or the light to shine 
from Heaven, but to say, "Lord, what would thou have me 
to do?" To elucidate this statement there is plenty to do; 
you have the sick at your door, and the hungry also, not 
hungry alone for physical food, but for spiritual food; tell 
them of God and His profound goodness, and pray with 
them. David, no doubt, thought of Christian society when 
he said : "Behold how good, and pleasant it is for brethren 
to dwell together in unity." Society develops a person's 
talent, talent undeveloped is like unpolished stone, incom- 
plete for use. Society elevates, and expands the mind. So- 
ciety is the stepping stone to intellectual progress. In so- 
ciety a person has the opportunity of studying questions; 
study brings before a person a chain of thoughts, and there- 
by expanding and elevating the mind to greater and nobler 
things in life. In Christian society we can do what God 
would have us do, and that is earnest Christian work. 

The following are the eloquent words of Longfellow : "I 
shot an arrow in the air, it fell to earth, I knew not where; 
I breathed a song into the air, it fell on earth, I knew not 
where : Long, long, afterwards in an oak I found the arrow 
still unbroke; And the song from beginning to end, I found 
again in the heart of a friend." What do we learn from 
that? We learn that no good deed or kind word is lost, it 
will have its desired effect. Let us do what we can for the 
cause of Christ, and the uplifting of the race, and God will 
take care of the results of our work. George Washington 
said : "United we stand, divided we fall," he meant to come 
together in one interest. In society a person does 
not only prepare themselves to face four or five hundred peo- 
ple, but they prepare themselves to speak to the world with 
their pen. James G. Blaine, the greatest statesman the 
world has ever produced, credited his success to society. Fred 
Douglass, the greatest Negro the race has ever produced, 
credited his success to the Baltimore Improvement Society in 
slavery before his fugitive event took place. Ex-President 
Benjamin Harrison was once president of the Young Men's 
Christian Association. Society is no little thing; when you 



157 

are in society you are in good company. One writer says, 
"When you are once accustomed to good company, no pun- 
ishment* would be greater than to compel you to associate 
with the vulgar and debased class one day. We must re- 
spect ourselves, we must respect our young ladies, and we 
must demand others to respect them. Another question 
which we must hold under careful consideration, and that 
is this: We must separate ourselves from those who do 
not, and will not, pursue the moral path along the line of 
civilization. Such is necessary to facilitate the moral de- 
velopment of the race. May God help us to do real Christian 
work in this society. Let us work, so when the green grass 
is growing over our graves, our name will still live. 

I am yours truly, 

E. C. BRANCH. 

THE NEGRO WOMEN OF TODAY. 

Mrs. M. L. Jones. 

Above all let the Negro know that the elevation of his 
race can come only, and will come surely, through the eleva- 
tion of its women. 

Womanhood ! It is but a generation ago that the colored 
woman had no stand, and the term womanhood was not 
broad enough in this Christian republic to include women 
of African descent. Her birthright was supposed to be that 
of banishment from high social circles. In spite of the pre- 
judice against her she has in a remarkable way emerged 
from obscurity and overcome the prejudice, so that today she 
stands on such a level that no one would have supposed her 
to have had any relationship with slavery in the recent past. 

Appreciation — No one denies that the colored women of 
today are appreciating the value of culture and industry. 
It is shown in their readiness to enter all open doors in this 
direction. Universities and professional industries of this 
country and Europe find the colored women ready as soon as 
permission is granted. There are very few professions and 
callings in which they are not winning their way, in spite 
of the prejudice that would restrict them to the lower walks 
of life. There are physicians, dentists, lawyers, linguists, 
musicians, stenographers and nurses in this rising race that 
are an adornment to the positions they hold. 

Good Wives — Make it your highest aim to be good wives. 
The race needs you and must depend upon you. When we 
come to calculate the forces that decide the destiny of na- 
tions it must be" confessed that the mightiest and grandest 



158 

come from the home! Good homes! The very salt of so- 
ciety, the strength and joy of any nation ! 

That the Afro-American woman appreciates her position 
is shown by the federation of women of that race. 

False Impressions — We are weary of the false impressions 
sent broadcast over the land about the colored woman's in- 
feriority, her lack of virtue and other qualities of noble wo- 
manhood. We wish to make it clear to the minds of our 
countrymen and women that there are no essential elements 
of character that they deem worthy of cultivating, that we 
do not desire to emulate ; that the sterling qualities of purity, 
virtue, benevolence and charity are not any more dormant in 
the breast of the white woman than in the Negro woman. 

Wants — Our wants are numerous. We want homes in 
which purity can be taught — not homes that are police court 
feeders. We want industrial schools. We want the dram- 
shops closed. We want the pool rooms and gambling dens 
of every variety swept out of existence. 

Progress — Our progress depends on the united strength 
of both men and women. This is indeed the woman's era. 
My experience has taught me to advise the race to cultivate 
a high sense of the womanhood of the race. This must be- 
gin with the mothers. The mother should teach the boy to 
respect his parents, to respect his sisters, and as a result, 
other men's sisters ; to reverence the seat of the family wo- 
man's power as very great. 

Young women, did it ever occur to you that you had a 
great and awful responsibility resting upon you, and that 
you, in part, hold the destiny of our race in your hands? It 
has been said, "Whatever the women are the men are sure 
to be." Knowing this, fit yourself for the great emergency. 
Let your thoughts be as pure, and character as spotless as 
the snow upon the summit of the loftiest of mountains, where 
the feathered songsters have never plumed their wings for 
flight, nor the sweetest sound of their notes have ever been 
heard. 

I would that I had a thousand tongues, and every tongue 
a thousand voices, and every voice a thousand echoes, that 
could reach from America to the utmost parts of Africa, and 
I would speak in loud tones with animating voice to every 
Negro woman and bid her take up woman's responsibility. 
I am proud to know that in this transition period of ours 
we have among us a few men of unimpeachable character. 

The young girls of our race, especially, wife and mother, 
the greenest laurels ! You may crown her hands with civic 



159 

honors, but after all, to her there will be no place like home, 
and the crown of her motherhood will be more precious than 

the diadem of a queen. 

MAY L. JONES. 

State Industrial Reformatory, 
Hutchinson, Kansas. 

January 25, 1913. 

E. C. Branch, 3219 Harre St., Houston, Texas. 

Dear Sir : — Replying to your recent letter to the Superin- 
tendent of State Prisons, I beg to advise we have no such of- 
ficer in this State, but I will answer your questions so far 
as they relate to our institution. 

In our institution we receive young men only, and they 
must be between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five. Of 
such we have in our institution eighty-four Negroes. 

Twenty Negroes were given a parole contract during the 
calendar year of 1912. About 76 per cent of all the young 
men, white and black, that we parole, make good on their 
contract; that is, they do not get in further criminal trouble, 
and are given a final discharge in from twelve to eighteen 
months after they are released from this institution. 

So far as I can determine from our records, about the same 
per cent of Negroes make good on parole contract as obtains 
among the white young men we parole. 

For further information regarding this matter, 1 would 
suggest you write Superintendent Charles, Boys' Reform 
School, Topeka, Kansas, and Warden J. K. Codding, State 
Prison, Lansing, Kans. 

Yours very truly, 
M. F. AMRINE, Superintendent. 

Kansas State Penitentiary, 
J. K. Codding, Warden. 
Lansing, Kansas. 

January 31, 1913. 
Mr. E. C. Branch, 3219 Haire St., Houston, Texas. 

My Dear Sir: Enclosed find blank filled out showing 
number of Negro men and women in the Kansas State peni- 
tentiary and number discharged by parole or expiration of 
sentence during the year 1912. For information concerning 
the number of Negro boys in the Reformatory write to Hon. 
M. F. Amrine, Superintendent State Industrial Reformatory, 
Hutchinson, Texas. 

Yours very truly, 

J. K. CODDING, Warden. 



160 

Department of State, 
Baton Rouge, La. 

February 3, 1913. 
E. C. Branch, Houston, Texas. 

Sir: — Your letter of the 5th inst. referred to the Board 
of Control of the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Baton 
Rouge, La., with the request that they kindly forward you 
copy of the report of that institution. 

Yours very truly, 

ALVIN E. HEBERT, Secretary of State. 

Ohio State Penitentiary, 
Columbus. 

January 30, 1913. 
Mr. E. C. Branch, 3219 Haire St., Houston, Texas. 

My Dear Sir : — I am enclosing herewith statement of our 
Negro population as requested by you. For any information 
regarding the Negro population at the Reformatory write 
Hon. J. A. Leonard, Superintendent Ohio State Reforma- 
tory at Mansfield, Ohio. 

Yours very truly, 

T. H. B. JONES, Warden. 

West Virginia Penitentiary, 
M. L. Brown, Warden. 

Moundsville, W. Va., January 30, 1913. 
Mr. E. C. Branch, Houston, Texas. 

Dear Sir: — I enclose herewith information requested by 
you concerning the colored population in our prison. These 
figures relate entirely to the State penitentiary. The State 
Reform School is located at Grafton, West Virginia, and for 
information concerning that institution would refer you to 
the Superintendent, Mr. H. E. Flesher. 

Yours very truly, 

M. L. BROWN, Warden. 

United States Penitentiary, 
Leavenworth, Kansas. 

January 31, 1913. 
Mr. E. C. Branch, 3219 Haire St., Houston, Texas. 

Sir: — Your blank making inquiry about Negro prisoners 
in this institution received. Since several items need some 
explanation, I am writing this letter. All women prisoners 
not placed in local institutions are sent to the Kansas State 
Prison, with which the United States Government has a 



L61 

contract for that purpose. Hence, none are kept here at 
Leavenworth. We do not classify prisoners here strictly 
according to educational qualifications. At last report there 
were present thirty-three colored prisoners unable to read 
or write. All the rest were able to read and write, while 
some, of course, had good educations. Only three men have 
been pardoned from this prison during this administration. 
One was a Chinaman and two were whites. Today there 
are present a total of 1219 prisoners of whom 409 are col- 
ored. 

Respectfully, 

R. W. McCLAUGHRY, Warden. 

State of West Virginia, 
State Board of Control. 
Charleston. 

January 27, 1913. 
Rev. E. C. Branch, 3219 Haire St., Houston, Texas. 

Dear Sir : — Your request for statistics, directed to "Super- 
intendent of State Prisons," has been referred to this Board. 
We have not the information at hand, and have forwarded 
the blank to M. L. Brown, Warden of the West Virginia 
Penitentiary, Moundsville, W. Va., with the request that he 
furnish you the desired information. 
Very truly yours, 

STATE BOARD OF CONTROL, 

By Roy Reger, Secretary. 

Department of State. 
L. G. Ellingham, Secretary. 
H. L. Confer, Asst. Secretary. 
Indianapolis, Ind. 

February 13, 1913. 
Rev. E. C. Branch, Houston, Texas. 

Dear Sir : — Replying to your recent communication would 
advise that this department has no copies of prison reports 
for distribution. We would suggest that you communicate 
with the State Librarian. 

Yours truly, 
L. G. ELLINGHAM, Secretary of State. 

THE HOUSTON EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGE. 

For the information of anyone wishing to know about the 
educational advantage of Houston, Texas. It leads all other 
Texas cities. The city educational staff is headed by Prof. 



. 162 

P. W. Horn, a Christian gentleman, as Superintendent, with 
a well organized force of first grade teachers. The city 
operates a free night school for young and old in the Fourth 
and Fifth wards. Already much good has been accomplished 
at these schools. I have been told by one of the colored 
teachers that Prof. Horn was indeed nice to the colored teach- 
ers. He is an educational power for the advancement of 
education, true character and the highest type of citizenship. 
Good Christian teachers are as important as preachers. 
From the fact they lay the foundation of character and citi- 
zenship. They have the making of our boys and girls. 

PRESIDENT WILSON A STATESMAN. 

Prof. R. W. Thompson, one of our race's noted newspaper 
reporters and special correspondent to the Indianapolis Free- 
man, says President Wilson is making good thus far. Mr. 
Thompson is prepared to judge right; he has been at the 
National Capitol long enough to know a statesman, when he 
comes in contact with the various issues that confront a 
president. I have thought all along that Mr. Wilson would 
handle the race question as satisfactorily as could be ex- 
pected. 

The following article is from the Indianapolis Freeman, 
April 5, 1913: 

(By R. W. Thompson.) 

"Washington, D. C, March 26.— The Wilson administra- 
tion starts out well. The President's utterances bear the 
hallmarks of high-grade statesmanship. His admirable 
poise, broad view of his relation to all the people of the coun- 
try, ready grasp of the great questions of the hour, and com- 
plete mastery of the situation, both from a moral and a polit- 
ical standpoint, have won the confidence of the thinking ele- 
ment of the nation. That Woodrow Wilson will be Presi- 
dent of the United States and that he will do his level best 
to redeem the pledges made to the people are accepted be- 
liefs among the seasoned men of affairs, who have watched 
the trend of current events from every possible angle. 

"The colored brother is not at all alarmed over the advent 
of a Democratic Chief Executive. He is taking things as a 
matter of course. There is a general disposition on the part 
of the colored citizens everywhere to look upon the bright 
side of things. The hope is freely expressed that the pro- 
verbial 'Wilson luck' will follow the occupant of the White 
House and that the next four years will be a period of un- 
exampled prosperity for all the American people. No ap- 



163 

preciable fear is felt that a panic is to ensue that will take 
away the black man's means of earning an honest living, nor 
is there any deep-seated notion that the welfare of the Negro 
will be placed in jeopardy by the leaders of the new dispen- 
sation. It is a common assertion that the anti-Negro fire- 
eaters, whose remarks on the race problem required asbestos 
paper for proper recording, are being forced to the rear and 
that an era of business men and business methods is upon us. 

"Negro delegations have called at the White House and 
have been cordially received by the President and his aides. 
•Many compliments are being paid Secretary Joseph P. Tu- 
multy by colored men of prominence because of the uniform 
courtesy he has shown in handling the matters they desired 
brought to the attention of the President. Patronage has 
been asked for the Negroes who helped to elect the Demo- 
cratic national ticket, and the claims presented by Bishop 
Alexander Walters, in the name of the Negro Democratic 
organization, are being given due consideration. 

"The predictions of the well-informed lean toward the idea 
that Mr. Wilson intends to proceed slowly and cautiously 
with the race problem, but that his ultimate policy will 
square with equity and fair play with reference to office and 
to legislation affecting the Negro people. The philosophers 
are saying little, but are keeping both eyes wide open for 
the things that may happen within the near future." 



THE DEPARTMENT ADVERTISERS. 

I will appreciate it if the readers will favorably note the 
advertisements in this book. I know all parties, they were 
given to help me personally. I have advertisements from 
some of my white friends. They all are honest business men. 

I have a newspaper directory. The newspaper men are 
our defenders, who daily sit at their desk pleading the Ne- 
gro's cause. Read any newspaper you wish, but don't fail 
to read some Negro paper. 



See the church order of service. You should attend some 
church on Sunday. If you fail to do so you are not on the 
right train. 



164 



(From the Western Star, Houston, Texas.) 

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE BAPTIST FAMILY OF 

AMERICA. 

"Dear Brother Watchman. 

"Since God has blessed us with the sunshine of fifty years 
light of freedom, love and mercy, it has been proposed by 
the President of the National Baptist Convention, that the 
denomination celebrate, in a befitting manner, the emanci- 
pation of our race from the chains of slavery. 

"As each of you know, the prince of darkness, the enemy 
of our souls, has in all these years been striving to enslave 
the minds and souls of the people whose bodies were liber- 
ated by that prince of statesmen, Abraham Lincoln. 

"Slavery is not over. If you will just look from your 
watchtower and behold the masses, the multitudes of our 
young men, who are growing worse and wicked. They are 
creeping into our homes and dragging our women to destruc- 
tion in more ways than one. The streets of our cities, where 
the Negroes gather, are an awful scene upon the canvas of 
time. We can reach them, we must do it, we will. 

"Dr. C. T. Walker, Dr. E. J. Fisher, Dr. A. E. Wilson, Rev. 
H. R. Wilson and Dr. Tyler have agreed with me to give the 
country, as far as it will be possible for us to do so, a can- 
vassing and thrashing. First, we propose to meet in some 
city, where the pastors may invite us, and open up six 
churches for ten days, organizing 'Rescuing Committees,' 
etc., and meeting for plans of method during the day. 

"Our motto: 

"1. More of the power of the Holy Spirit in our church 
worship. Pentacostal results will follow pentacostal con- 
ditions. 

"2. To help the pastors reach the unsaved of their fields 
of labor. 

"3. To put all of the all to work. 

"4. To put a Bible and hymn book in every home. 

"5. To get people to join the church by the means that 
John the Baptist used. 

"We hope by this means, when the denomination shall 
gather in its thirty-third annual meeting of the National 
convention, to open in that same city, an evangelistic serv- 
ice in which addresses and talks from pastors and workers 
will be had during the sessions of the convention, and at the 
same time report what God has done for us during the days 
of our campaign. 



165 

"We hope that all of our denominational papers will pub- 
lish the coming - of the 'pentacostal campaign/ and that each 
pastor throughout the country will speak, preach, and pray 
that God may enable us to bring in the golden grain. 

"Our gospel commission reads : 'Go ye into all the world, 
beginning at Jerusalem.' Jerusalem is the home field of 
every pastor in America. Let us obey our captain, and there 
is no question but that when we meet the enemy, they will 
be ours. 

"We are, yours in Christ, 

"REV. I. TOLIVER, D. D., Washington, D. C. 

"REV. A. E. WILSON, D. D., Kansas City, Kans. 

"DR. C. T. WALKER, D. D., Augusta, Georgia. 

"REV. H. R. WILSON, D. D., El Paso, Texas. 

"DR. E. J. FISHER, D. D., Chicago, 111. 

'REV. A. J. TYLER, D. D., Washington, D. C. 

'And nine thousand others." 



"] 
<« 



WORKING AGAINST THE NEGRO. 

Washington, D. C. — The colored postal clerks of the South 
are much stirred up over a petition that is being circulated 
among the white railway clerks, requesting Postmaster Gen- 
eral Burleson to put all the Negro clerks on lines to them- 
selves and not allow any Negro mail clerk to be in the same 
car with a white clerk. The petition was started by Robert 
Prather, a white mail clerk running out of Little Rock, Ark. 
Pratier was flattered recently by having had his name called 
to tht attention of the postoffice department because he pre- 
vented a holdup on his line. He figures that since he is tem- 
porally popular that he will win fame with this jim-crow 
proportion. 

A few years ago the same scheme was proposed and sev- 
eral write clerks were dismissed on account of their activity 
in thustrying to cripple the mail service. 

The Negro mail clerks have fought their way up in the 
postal service, especially in the South, by superior work, even 
against the rank prejudice of most of the white clerks who 
hesitateto, in most cases, do nothing that is against the col- 
ored cleiks, and in many instances their efforts seem to have 
been sarctioned by the chief clerks, who have the direct 
supervishn of the mail lines. In last days of Postmaster 
Hitchcoctfs administration laws went into effect providing 
for annua promotions to all clerks with satisfactory records, 
and these laws when fairly applied will permit the Negro 
clerks on Hg lines to attain large salaries. The envious white 



Kit. 

clerks want the colored clerks for these reasons put on small 
and insignificant lines. 

Assurances have been given by the present administration 
that the civil service regulations will be closely adhered to, 
and this is taken to mean that this jim-crow proposal, like 
its author, will amount to nothing. 



AGENTS WANTED THROUGHOUT THE 
UNITED STATES 



SPECIAL PRICES TO DEALERS 

Paper Bound $1.00 

Cloth Bound 1.35 

Best Binding, Fancy Finish 1.50 

All mail orders promptly filled. Address orders to 

REV. E. C. BRANCH, 

1323 Schwartz Street 

HOUSTON, TEXAS 

The following named persons are Agents and Generai Tr.veling 

Agents for my Book : 

LOCAL AGENTS : 

HOUSTON, TEXAS— Miss Mary Jones, Mrs. M. L. Jones, Adkins 
Brothers, John H. Carter, S. L. Wright, Stephen Role, Dick 
Penson, John D. Anderson, Miss L. Brady. 

GENERAL TRAVELING AGENTS: 
HOUSTON, TEXAS— A. B. Jones, Prof. J. C. McDade, Mill Jones, 

Dr. P C. Hunt, D. D., Dr. L. L. Nelson, D. D. 
HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS-Noble Naylor, Mace Fisher. 
KINDLETON, TEXAS— Miss Maggie S. D. Dillard. 
TEXARKANA, TEXAS— Rev. Handy Allen. 
DAYTON, TEXAS- Rev. L. J. Alfred, D. D. 

FIELD AGENTS : 
TEXAS— Rev. Tom Parker, D. D., Rev. M. Williams. 
ARKANSAS-Dr. W. L. Balay, D. D. 



ilmtnt Hernott iEpti|nbtat iEpiarflfral GUjurij 

Corner Clark and Burnett Streets, Fifth Ward 
HOUSTON. TEXAS 



ORDER OF SERVICES 

Sunday School 9 A. M. 

Preaching at 11 A. M. and 8 P. M. 

Spiritual Department of Epworth League, 7:30 P. M. 

General Class 3.00 P. M., on First Sundays 

Official Board, First Monday's, 7:30 P. M. 



Class Meeting Each Tuesday Night 
Wednesday Night, Choir Practice, Mrs. A. N. McKinney, Chorister 

Thursday Night, Sunday School Board, W. R. Bryant, Supt. 
Thursday Evening 4 P. M. Junior Epworth League Meets, 

Mrs. Katie Jackson, Superintendent 
Friday Night, Epworth League Literary, 7:30 P. M. 
Mrs. Anna M. McKinnie, Organist Van H. McKinney, President 
Monday Evening, 3:30 P. M., Ladies' Aid Meets, 

Mrs. Addie Johnson, President 
All are invited to these Services. Seats are free 
Rev. Jas. I. Gilmore, Pastor Dr. E. A. Durham, Treaurer 

Miles W. Jordan, R. S. 

Iroiun'a Olljajml A. M. £ (!ll?urrli 

3208 Washington Street 
HOUSTON, TEXAS 



Dr. P. C. Hunt, D. D. Pastor C. F. Smith, Clerk 

Mrs. V. Page, Chairman Stewardess Board 

Mrs. M. C. J. Smith, Chairman Mission Board 

T. J. Rrown, Superintendent Sunday School 

Preaching at 11:30 A. M. and 7:30 P. M., Every Sunday 

Sunday School at 9:30 A. M. League at 5 P. M. 

Visitors are Welcome 

iHmmt (Eortntl) lapttat (lHjurd} 

HOUSTON. TEXAS 
Rev. Wm. Sails, Pastor W. E. Colwell, Clerk 



ORDER OF SERVICES 

Preaching each Sunday at 11 A. M., 3 P. M., and 8 P. M. 

Sunday School at 9:30 A. M. 

Home Mission Society, Mondays at 2:30 P. M. 



®fj? g>tar ICigljt lapttfit (Hljurrfj 



HOUSTON. TEXAS 



Rev. L. L. Nelson, D. D., Pastor J. R. Roberson, Clerk 

OFFICERS 
Joe Crumel, Geo. Spain, H. Williams. 

J. R. Robinson, Sunday School Superintendent 

Miss Blancha Wilson, Secretary 

Mrs. Emma Simms, President Home Mission Society 

Mrs. Etha Shumate, Vice President 

Miss Alice Goldnait, Secretary 

Value of Church Property, $850.00; New Church to cost $8,000.00 
to be erected January 1, 1914 



ORDER OF SERVICES 

Sunday School 9:30 A. M. 

Preaching, Sunday 11 A. M., and 8 P.M.; Thursday nights 8 P. M. 

We ask any friend, brother or organization to please help us. 

No gift too small or too large; we accept a penny collection 

What Dr. Alfred Is Doing 

REV. L. J. ALFRED, Moderator 

FOUNDER OF THE COLORADO WESTERN 

MISSIONARY BAPTIST ASSOCIATION OF TEXAS 

AND PASTOR OF FOUR GOOD CHURCHES 

And also the Founder of the Colorado Western Orphan Home of Dayton, 
Texas: located 1% miles North of Dayton, on a 12 acre tract of im- 
proved land, and also General Superintendent of the above Home. 

P. O. BOX 211. DAYTON, TEXAS 

This Association Represents the First Convention of Texas 



The Gem Pharmacy 

GEO. ROBERTSON. Proprietor 

2401 ODIN AVE. HOUSTON, TEXAS 

Phnno I Preston 1287 
rnone j AutQ A . 3036 

Free Delivery and Quick Answers 



1 HE 



Turner Confectionery Store 

STAPLE AND FANCY GROCERIES 
FRUIT, CANDY, CIGARS, TOBACCO 
LAUNDRY SOAP, BLUEING, SNUFF 
STATIONERY, CHEWING GUM 

All Kinds of Cold Drinks and Ice Cream 

CORNER CLARK AND ODIN STREETS , HOUSTON, TEX. 



R. S. SCOTT L. W. LOMAX 

The Orgen Barber Shop 

THE BEST EQUIPPED MODERN 
NEGRO BARBER SHOP IN THE SOUTH 

413 Milam Street 

HOT AND COLD BATHS 

Shoe Shine Parlor, Cigars, Tobacco and Chewing Gum 

This is the Home of Good Tonsorial Artists and Headquarters for those that are 

Particular about their Hair Cuts, Shaves, Shampoos, Electrical Massages, Hair 

and Mustache Dyeing and Tonics— Sterlized Towels 

COURTEOUS TREATMENT TO ALL 

Scott & lomax. props. Houston, Texas 

WANTED 

Everybody suffering with Rheumatism, Kidney 

Trouble, Bladder Trouble and Backache to try the 

Famous AUSTRALIAN KIDNEY OIL 

Weinberg's Drug Store Mfgr's 

Phone, Preston 1828 

ON SALE AT ROUSE'S DRUG STORE 

JOHN H. CARTER 

Groceries, Staple Goods 

Cut Price on All Mail Orders Received 
...TRY US ONCE... 

1102 Schwartz St. Houston, Texas 

PHONE. A-4472 FREE DELIVERY 



Plain and Fancy Sewing 

READY-MADE GOODS 

Ladies and Gentlemen's Clothes Made to Order 

A NICE STOCK OF HATS 

TRIMMED TO ORDER 

A Full Stock of Children's Ready-Made Goods 

ALWAYS ON HAND 

MRS. LILLIE ROSS 

1 103 Hill Street Houston, Texas 



DR. A. I. TIMBS 

DENTIST 

OFFICE HOURS: 8 A. M. to 12:30 P. M 2 P. .M. to 6 P. M. 
419% Milam Street HOUSTON, TEXAS 



L. V. ALLEN 

LAWYER 

PRACTICE IN ALL COURTS 

HOUSTON, TEXAS 
Office, 419% Milam Street 



THE LABORING MAN'S 
GROCERY CO. 

Country Produce Bought and Sold 

Up-to-Date Full Line of Staple 

and Fancy Groceries 

L. THOMAS, Proprietor 

902 SCHWARTZ STREET HOUSTON. TEXAS 



MR. ROBERT GANT 

Contractor of Heavy 
Hauling and Moving 

I CAN MOVE ANYTHING-NOTHING TOO SMALL AND 
NOTHING TOO LARGE FOR ME TO MOVE 

Always Get My Price Before Letting Out Your Job 

1022 HILL STREET HOUSTON, TEXAS 



Mrs. Jone's Restaurant 

SHORT ORDERS 10c TO 25c REGULAR MEALS 25c 

Ice Cream and Cold Drinks 

All Kinds of Candy, Tobacco and Cigars 
THE BEST SERVICE FOR LESS MONEY. OPEN DAY AND NIGHT. 

1010 Schwartz Street Houston, Texas 



.MRS. J. M. DAMIEL 

of Huntsville, Texas 

Is now located in Houston doing Plain and Fancy 

...SEWING... 

Call to see me, 
The Price is Right— The Best Work— And the Best Fit for Less 
Money. I will appreciate your business. 

1701 Clark Street Houston, Texas 



TRY US WHEN ALL OTHERS FAIL 

We Have Moved 

TO CORNER OF TRAVIS AND CONGRESS 
We Operate Three Chairs 

Our SHINES are the BEST and COST LESS— Always 5 cents 

...We Still Want Your Trade... 

FLETCHER THOMAS, Proprietor 

Congress and Travis Streets Houston, Texas 



GLASSES 

IF MADE RIGHT 

WILL CORRECT 

SIGHT 

Our Glasses Are 
Made RIGHT 

B. R. PETERS 

Optometrist 

PHONE, A-3677 

OFFICE, 2908 Providence St. 

HOUSTON. TEXAS 

In the event you cannot call 
drop us a card 



The Story ^bur 
Mirror Tells 




KRYPTON 



NO VISIBLE LINE 



BIRD GEE 



C. A. McCREARY 



GEE & McCREARY 

General Real Estate and Promoters 
of Oklahoma Oil Fields 

LOTS $5.00 AND UPWARD 



Phone, Automatic A- 1384 
Office, 506 Milam Street 



FARMS A SPECIALTY 

HOUSTON, TEXAS 



GEO. F. COLLINS, 

Cleaning, Dyeing and Pressing Club 

PHONE. PRESTON 6455 

We Give the Best Service. Clothes Called for and Delivered to 

any Address in the City 

TOBACCO AND CIGARS 



820 San Felipe St. 



Houston, Texas 




N. S. AUK I Ns 
President of Adhins Bros. & Co. 



IT'S THE WOMANS' IRONING COMFOKT 

Recognizing the necessity of a suitable device for the women, 

we submit here for your consideration, a device, 

which we are handling: It is a 

Self-Heating Flat Iron 

5 1-2 Lbs. for Family Use. 20 Lbs for Tailoring Use 

NO SMUT INO SMOKE 

One Iron does the work, at a cost of ONE CENT PER DAY. 
If you desire one of our Irons on easy payments write us today. 
We are Respectfully 

ADKINS BROS. 

1011 Schwartz Street Houston, Texas 



The Dallas Express 

BOOK, NEWS AND JOB PRINTERS 

W. E. KING, Business Manager 
Subscriptions $1.25 per annum: 75c Six Months 

, 1, . 1 „ c . 1607 Jackson Street 

Phonfs- I Main X ' 54 

phones. \ Auto M .i754 DALLAS, TEXAS 

The Texas Courier 

J. MERCER JOHNSON, D. D., Editor and General Manager 

Dr. H. M. WHITBY, Contributing Editor 

Mr. M. H. GRIFFIN, Assistant Manager 

Subscription 50 Cents a Year 

Address all publications and business letters to the Editor, 

1408 TRAVIS STREET, HOUSTON, TEXAS 
Phone, Preston 1387 



"And Ethiopia Shall Stretch Forth Her Hand" 

The Freeman 

A NATIONAL ILLUSTRATED COLORED 

NEWSPAPER 

Indianapolis, .... Indiana 



The Torchlight 

PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY 

Rev. C. C. Smith, Editor; Rev. D. H. Shivers, Rev. J. B. Daniels 

and Rev. J. D. Bibbs, Mrs. T. A. Castle, Assistant Editors 

Rev. A. A. Banks, Manager 

SUBSCRIPTION PRICE: 

One Year, $1.00; Six Months, 50c; Three Months, 25c 

BRYAN, .... TEXAS 

The Crisis 

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE 

W. E. DUBOIS, Manager A. L. HOLSEY, Advertising 

Circulation 23,000 
26 Vesey Street, . . . NEW YORK 



Galveston New Idea 

DAVID T. SHELTON, Proprietor 
and Managing Editor 

PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY GALVESTON, TEXAS 

One Month 20 cents 

Three Months 50 cents 

Six Months 85 cents 

One Year $1.50 

The Boley Progress 

BOLEY, OKLA. 

A PROGRESSIVE NEWSPAPER 

Circulation Sufficient for Your Needs. We do Printing— And Quick 

If You Want to Know the News of Boley, Subscribe for the 
Progress. Advertise With Us— Our Prices are Right 

AGENTS WANTED— WRITE US 

Edwin G. Young, Mgr. George W. Perry. Foreman 

The Texas Guide 

THEO. BAUGHMAN, Editor and Prop. 

A LARGELY CIRCULATED NEGRO JOURNAL 

$1.00 Per Year 

Palestine, Texas 

Texas Freeman 

A RACE PAPER GOOD CIRCULATION 

Subscription $1.50 Per Year 

C. N. LOVE, Editor and Proprietor 

Houston, Texas 

Palestine Plaindealer 

MALLARD STREET 

D. T. CLEAVER, Editor and Proprietor 

L. E. CLEAVER, J. B. LEAK, 

Business Manager Foreman Mechanical Dept. 

SUBSCRIPTION RATES 

One Year $1.00 

Six Months .60 

Three Months 35 

One Month .15 

Single Copy .05 



'<f 



The City Times 

Published Every Saturday by WM. H. NOBLE, Jr. Galveston, Texas 
WM. H. NOBLE, JR., Editor and Manager 

SUBSCRIPTION RAT^S 

Twelve Months $2.00 

Six Months 1.10 

Three Months .50 

OneMonth .. .20 

The Western Star 

Published every Saturday at Houston, Texas by the 

WESTERN STAR PRINTING COMPANY, 419% MILAM STREET 

All letters, money orders, checks, drafts, etc., pertaining to this of- 
fice, should be addressed to theWestern Star Publish- 
ing Company, Houston. Texas 

REV. F. L. LIGHTS, D. D., President 

J. M. CODWELL, . Editor 

REV. A. R. GRIGGS, D. D., Associate Editor 

REV. L. K. WILLIAMS, B. Th. .Associate Editor 

E. D. PIERSON, B. S., ...Manager and Managing Editor 

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION 

One Copy, One Year, in advance $1.25 

One Copy, Six Months, in advance .75 

One Copy, Three Months, in advance .50 

Single Copies .05 

Clubs of Six or more 1.00 . 

Advertising Rates will be furnished on Application 

Wm. McGinnis 

Contractor and Builder 

PLANS DRAWN AND FURNISHED 
Homes. Schools, Churches and Halls Built on Easy Terms 

Phone. Preston 7569 
1506 SUTTON STREET HOUSTON, TEXAS 








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